


Tales of a Hogwarts life

by GloriousPirateAlpaca



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Bullying, F/M, Feels, Giripan - Freeform, Harry Potter Crossover - Freeform, M/M, Pottertalia, Rochu, gerita - Freeform, lietpol, lots of sideparings, spamano - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4956943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GloriousPirateAlpaca/pseuds/GloriousPirateAlpaca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ludwig is starting his first year at Hogwarts. Antonio is a very popular third year. Yao is one of the prefects in Hufflepuff, starting his fifth year. Toris is a skilled magician in year six, with very little luck in love. What does fate have in store for them this year? What awaits them around the corner? Happiness? Luck? Pain? Sorrow? Maybe...love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, I'm RussianSunflower! Welcome to my pottertalia fanfic!
> 
> This chapter is only from Germanys pov, but in other chapters, the pov will change between characters. It will be four different stories in one since the pov will change between for example Germany, who is first year and China, who is fifth year. They all take place in the same AU at the same time, so something that happens in Germanys pov can be mentioned in Chinas.  
> This fanfic will tell the tales of different people in different years as they faces obstacles and hardships! Well, that didn't sound cliché...Anyways, enyoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia or Harry Potter, do you seriously think I would write fanfics? (oh and I imported this story from my account on fanfiction.net!)

Germanys PoV

I stood outside platform 9 ¾. To be honest, I was a bit nervous. Beside me was my brother Gilbert. He wasn't nervous at all. But on the other hand, he was used to it. He was starting his third year at Hogwarts. Our mother pushed me forward gently.

"Come on, Ludwig! Just run, it will be fine!"

Gilbert shouted "I'm awesome!" and ran through the wall. I hesitated a little, then I did as I was told. Suddenly I was on the other side. There were so much people! And there it was! The Hogwarts express! I just stared until Gilbert came running and shouted something to me about this place being "Awesome, right? But not as awesome as me". He can fit the word 'awesome' in every sentence. With that I mean  **every**  sentence.

Our mother and father said good bye to us and then we got on the train. We found an empty compartment. After a little while a boy with black hair and brown eyes entered. He looked asian. The boy seemed a bit nervous and looked at us like we were the most scary things he had ever seen. Especially Gilbert. My brother is an albino, so people usually stare. I realised I should introduce myself. Hopefully, that would make the boy more comfortable.

"Hello, my name is Ludwig Beilschmidt. Nice to meet you!"

"My name is Kiku Honda. Nice to meet you too."

We were interrupted with a high shout from the corridor. Both Kiku and I looked out to see two almost identical boys coming our way.

"Fratello, mi dispiace tanto! Attendere prego! Fratello!"

Italian?

"Col cavolo, bastardo! Sei troppo lento, sbrigati idiota! "

"Ma fratello!"

They reached our compartment and the first boy, who looked a bit *chough* understatement *cough* angry, glared at us.

"Hey, bastards, are there seats left here?"

"Um, yes?"

"Good."

They entered the compartment. The other boy smiled at me. He seemed much nicer than his brother.

"Ciao! My name is Feliciano Vargas! What's your name?

"I'm Kiku Honda. Pleased to meet you."

"My name is Ludwig Beilschmidt."

"I'm the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

The boy smiled. Okay wait, there's no need to tell you that he smiled. It seemed like he smiled all the time. Not that it was anything wrong with that! He looked kind of cute when he smiled! Ahem, pretend I never said that.

"This is my brother, Lovino Vargas."

"You're twins?"

"Yup, we are! And you two are brothers right?" He pointed at me and Gilbert.

"Yeah, Gilberts a third year."

"Third year and proud gryffindor, kesesesese!"

"Oh, I see~. How about you? Do you have any siblings?" The question was directed to Kiku, who sighed.

"I do. Too many I'm afraid. I have two sisters and three brothers. They all go to Hogwarts, except for Leon, his one year younger."

"Isn't it nice having a big family?"

Kiku looked at me like he wanted to say something inappropriate about his family, but chose not to.

* * *

 

We had arrived safely at Hogwarts and it was now time for the sorting ceremony. They would call our names and we would go sit on a chair and the sorting hat would shout out what house we had been sorted into. My hands were shaking. What house would I be sorted into? Suddenly, someone put a hand on mine. I looked at the person who turned out to be Feliciano, giving me a calming smile. The teacher shouted:

"Felicia Andersson!" And the sorting began.

* * *

"Ludwig Beilschmidt!"

I slowly walked up to the hat. It was placed over my head and said:

"Oh my, oh my. Another Beilschmidt? I certainly hope that you won't be as annoying as the last one!" That earned a few snickers from people in the hall and a "Hey!" from Gilbert. "Well, well, where shall we sort you, hm? I don't think Slytherin is the right place for you. Maybe, yes, it should be...GRYFFINDOR!"

I was pushed towards the cheering Gryffindor table. People greeted me in different ways, some shook hands with me, some patted my back and some just smiled and said "Congrats!" The sorting continued.

"Sofía Fernandez Carriedo!"

"Hufflepuff!"

A few names later, the woman shouted:

"Kiku Honda!" Oh, it was Kikus turn! The hat seemed to think for a few moments, yes apparently hats can think, before shouting:

"Gryffindor!" He was in Gryffindor as well! I smiled brightly at him when he sat down next to me and he smiled shyly back.

After a while, it was Feliciano's turn. The seemed like the hat needed to think once again. It mumbled to itself. "Where shall we put you? Not in Slytherin, no, no, that would not work. Hufflepuff or maybe Gryffindor, yes that's it…" Please Gryffindor! I thought. As if the hat had heard me, it shouted.

"Gryffindor!" The three of us all smiled when he came over to us. We were in the same house!

"Lovino Vargas!" That was Feliciano's brother!

"My, my. You two looked alike, but you are certainly different! Where shall we put you...let's see..."

"Hurry up with the result, stupid hat!"

The hat snorted. Yes it did. "Fine, be that way. Slytherin!"

No way! I thought he'd be a Hufflepuff! Note the sarcasm.

The sorting ceremony ended with a girl called Anna Oxenstierna (she was in Ravenclaw by the way) and we ate and talked to our fellow gryffindors. After that we were led to the Gryffindor common room and shown to our dorm by one of the prefects. He was in year six and called Toris. Another prefect, called Lien turned out to be Kikus older sister! She was rather nice but she didn't speak much and she never smiled.

We all fell asleep very soon after reaching the dorm. The dorms were beautiful and they made me feel at home. And that was what Hogwarts was for me now. A new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italian translations:
> 
> Fratello, mi dispiace tanto! Attendere prego! Fratello! means Brother, I'm so sorry! Please wait! Brother!
> 
> Col cavolo, bastardo! Sei troppo lento, sbrigati idiota! means Like hell, bastard! You're too slow! Hurry up idiot!
> 
> Ma fratello! means But brother! And Ciao! means Hello! I used google translate, so feel free to correct me if something is wrong!
> 
> Lien is a name for Vietnam that I found online. Sofía and Anna are two of my OCs and represents Madrid and Stockholm. They might appear more, along with some other OCs of mine, but they won't get big roles. They will just be in the background and sometimes they will help me giving the characters a light push in the back to make the story go forward.
> 
> The ages of the characters are a bit random...I sort of just made a dokument in google, then put the characters in different years, just so that they could interact with the people I wanted them to interact with. So yeah, some of the ages doesn't follow the canon media, but c'mon, it's a fanfic! (yes, I use that as an excuse for my laziness, I'm to lazy to change the ages...also that would give me problems with the story so I'll let it be this way.)
> 
> And I know that Italy and Romano aren't twins, I just made them that because I thought it would fit the story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I've never written Rochu before(actually, I have only written Lietpol). So I'm sorry if Russia and/or China are a bit OOC!

Toris PoV

It was a few days after the sorting ceremony. As I woke up a saw that Feliks, my best friend, was still sound asleep. I sighed, knowing that I would have a really hard time waking him. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and walked over to the blond boy. I shook his shoulder lightly.

"Feliks, wake up." He just grunted and moved slightly.

"Feliks." All of sudden he grabbed my shoulder and hugged me, like I was some kind of teddy bear. I fell and landed in his bed, beside him. I mean he was asleep, so he didn't knew what he was doing, but still! I blushed madly and was really grateful that the other boys had left already.

"F-Feliks! Let me go!" That sort of had the opposite effect, which caused me to become even redder. Still I just couldn't push him away...I actually liked to hug him. But I couldn't hug him now! What if someone entered the room? And once again, he was asleep so he didn't knew what he was doing.

"Feliks, seriously! You have to release me now!" He blinked and opened his eyes, our faces were only a few centimeters away from each other. It took him a few moments to realise what kind of position we were in. When he did, he blushed about as much as I did and pushed me away.

"Omg, I'm sorry Toris! I didn't, I mean it wasn't on purpose!"

"No, it's okay, you were asleep."

There was an awkward silences for a few moments when none of us could look at the other, then Feliks seemed to recover and said:

"Toris, we should, like, probably go eat now."

"Oh, right! Though...we should get dressed first."

* * *

"And then Elizabeta was like…." Feliks rambled on as usual. I didn't mind though. I liked listening to him. He was really cute. Before you ask, yes I happen to have a crush on my best friend. I've never been lucky in love. In second year, I somehow fell in love with Ivan Branginskys little sister, who started her first year then. Natalia however, hated me with passion. She'd break my fingers, hit me, she even stabbed me with her knife one! Don't ask me how she managed to get a knife to Hogwarts. Anyways in fifth year I finally managed to give up on her, only to fall in love with Feliks, who had been my friend since first year. Of course, I know he doesn't return my feelings. He only sees me as a friend. And I don't plan on confessing either, I don't want to ruin our friendship. I'm just happy I can spend time with him.

"Hey Toris, are you, like, even listening?" Oups…

"Eh, sorry, I got lost in thoughts. What did you say?"

"I asked if I could copy your homework. What were you thinking about?"

I blushed and looked away. "Nothing." But he wasn't that easily fooled.

"Hehe, you're red as Antonios tomatoes. Were you like thinking about a girl~?"

I didn't answer. "Omg! I was totally right wasn't I? So tell me, tell me! Who is she? Lien? Daniell? Fanny? C'mon, tell me!"

"Nah, no one...I wasn't really thinking of a girl…"

"Were you thinking about...a guy then?" Was that hope in his voice? Urgh! Of course not! Bad brain, bad brain!

"No, of course not! I'm not gay!"

"Oh." Disappointment? Dear inner-mind-voice, would you mind shutting up? Thank you!

"Anyways, we should get going! What class do we have now?"

"We have divination. That professor could like, really use some new clothes. So un-fab!"

I just laughed. It was so like Feliks to be talking about fab or un-fab things. He shot me a glance.

"What? It's true!"

"Yes, yes, whatever you say!"

He hit me playfully on the arm and we made our way to class.

* * *

_Let's change the PoV! Time for...China!_

* * *

I was on my way to defense against dark arts, when someone popped up behind me and blew me in the neck, making me jump in surprise and fear. I spun around to see the person, though I had my suspicions. Yep, I was right!

"Aiyaa! Ivan, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, Yao, couldn't resist." The slytherin boy chuckled. Many people finds his chuckling scary, but I can't say I do. There are times when I wounder why he's even a slytherin. He's a nice person, even if he seems scary. It would have been nice if we were in the same house. I mean Slytherin and Hufflepuff, can't get much more different right?

"So sunflower, we should go to class, da?" I smiled and nodded.

He took my hand. I couldn't stop the slight blush from crawling up my cheeks, but I let him do it. We had been dating for about three months now. Though it was a secret, nobody knew about it. It wasn't like homosexuall relationships weren't allowed here no, no! Okay fine, there were people that was against homosexualls, but that wasn't our problem. It was Ivans parents. They were about as homophobic as you can get and also wanted Ivan to marry his step-sister, Natalia. She was head over heels for him, so of course she had nothing against it! She was the same year as us and probably the most scary girl in school. Natalia was also a reason for us to not tell about our relationship. I do value my life. Seriously, that girl should be sent to a mental hospital! So basically, we didn't want it to spread so we didn't tell anyone.

We heard someone come running towards us in the corridor. Ivan quickly let go of my hand and I stepped a few steps away from him. How i hated it! Not being able to walk with him as I pleased annoyed me so much! Though I knew it was for the best.

A painting next to us suddenly sighed and said: "Oh, no. It's  _those_  three again." Before I could ask him who he meant, three boys came running towards us. One with rather long, blond hair and blue eyes, one with brown hair and green eyes and...oh, crap. The third was an albino! The bad touch trio! They were famous, or in some cases infamous, around the school because one; they were very popular, both in their own grade and below and up. And two, they were big trouble makers. No wonder the painting had sighed!

The boys pushed each other around while running then suddenly Francis, pushed Antonio so that he fell and crashed into Ivan...Woops...That was not very good, so to say.

"Lo siento! Francis pushed me and…" He froze. So did Francis and Gilbert. Then they all swallowed in chorus. If it hadn't been for the slightly annoyed Ivan beside me, I would have laughed at them. Instead of screaming or scolding them, which Ivan never did, he put on a bright (aka scary) smile and said:

"No, worries da? Just don't do it again. Especially since I'm a prefect. Da?" That could have sounded much less scary, if it hadn't been been for the evil aura surrounding him and the kolkolkolkol, he put in after. The three boys became pale and ran away the fasted they could, screaming "We're so sorry!". I'm pretty sure some of the paintings hid as well.

Ivan looked at me. "What's wrong?"

I smiled and chuckled. "Nothing. Hey, did you see Antonios face? Hilarious!"

He chuckled as well. Then he looked around quickly, before leaning down and pecking me lightly on the cheek. My face burned and the butterflies in my stomach went crazy.

"Thank you." His voice was nothing more than a whisper.

"For what?"

"For never being afraid of me. For staying by my side. For being my fantastic boyfriend."

I had no idea what to answer. He had never said anything like that to me before. Lost for words, I stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek like he had before. The small blush on his face made me snicker. I then took his hand again. He held mine thightly, like he would never let go of me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lo siento-I'm sorry(in spanish)
> 
> The BTT are all in third year, Yao and Ivan are in fifth year and Feliks and Toris are in year six...Told you the ages was random! The BTT are in different houses, Antonio is Hufflepuff, Gilbert is in Gryffindor and Francis is in Ravenclaw because I can. Or because I had to many people in Slytherin...(I love Slytherin! It's my house btw)


	3. Chapter 3

"Stand next to your broom, hold your hand out and say: 'Up'!"

We were having broom flight class. Feliciano had been rambling about it for hours before it started. I think he was nervous. I don't know what Kiku thought about it, since he was as quiet as usual. So now we were here, standing in front of our broom. I held my hand out.

"UP!" Nothing happened.

"UP!" It still refused to move. Beside me Kiku's broom where just slightly jumping around on the ground. And to my left, Feliciano had...WHAT? Feliciano had gotten his broom up on first try! What the hell? Excuse my language.

"UP!" I screamed. It twitched on the ground, but refused to move more than that.

"Don't sound so angry. You'll scare it." A soft voice beside me said. Scare it? Okay…

"Up!" I said, trying to not sound furious. The next moment I held the broom in my hand. I smiled thankfully at Feli who returned the smile.

"Okay, class! Now that everyone has their brooms, let's go through some security rules. No flying until I say so. Absolutely no flying outside this marked area and no pushing around while flying! Are we clear?"

"Yes professor!"

"Good! Let's see...you're too many to fly at the same time. You will fly in two groups, since it's your first lesson." She divided us into our groups. Kiku and I was in the same group, Feli was in the other.

The first part of the lesson went pretty smooth, at least for me and Kiku. In the beginning I had a hard time controlling my broom, but when I finally managed to fly where I wanted to, it was really funny! Kiku looked at bit insecure at first and the entire lesson he stayed rather close to the ground. I guess flying wasn't really his thing.

Then it was Feliciano's groups turn. At the beginning, everything went well for them too. Feli was really a skilled flyer. The same could not be said about his brother. He seemed to have a very hard time controlling his broom. It tossed around and around. I could hear him cursing from the ground. But all of sudden a slytherin boy with a white mask over his eyes (why was he wearing it anyway?) bumped into Feliciano! Judging from the smirk on his face, it had been on purpose. Feli lost control over his broom and fell off! He managed to grab it with one hand but when the boy flew way to close to him again, he lost his grip while trying to avoid the masked boy.

Feliciano fell slowly and hit the ground almost without a sound. I heard Lovino scream.

"FRATELLO!"

Feliciano wasn't moving.

* * *

_Let's change the pov~ Perfect timing right? So now we'll take..._

_Germany again! :3 Sorry people, couldn't resist._

* * *

"Feliciano!" I screamed as Kiku and I ran over to the boy on the ground. Romano was still up in the air, trying to make his broom fly down.

My italian friend looked really pale. I quickly took his pulse and checked his breathing. Thank god! He was alive! I let out a sigh in relief and beside me, Kiku did the same thing. Our professor made her over to us. What was her name again? Not important. She also took his pulse, then lifted him up bridal style.

"Everyone, get off your brooms! Class dismissed!" She turned away to leave.

"Excuse me professor!"

"Yes, mister Beilschmidt?"

"Um, can we come with you and Feliciano to the infirmary? We're his friends." I pointed at myself, Kiku and Lovino, who had finally got down on the ground. The professor looked at us then nodded.

"Yes, that's alright."

* * *

At the infirmary, one of the nurses put him in a bed and checked up on him quickly.

"He seems to be fine. He's just unconscious, probably has a light concussion of the brain, but nothing serious. Of course, he'll get lots of brushes but aside from that he'll be fine. He was really lucky!"

Thank lord! Feli was going to be okay!

"So boys, what happened there?"

"I think I saw a boy with a white mask push him, professor." I replied.

"It was that bastard Sadik Adnan!"

"Watch your language mister Vargas. I understand. I'll talk to mister Adnan." The professor left, leaving only me, Kiku and Lovino with Feli. After a while of just staring in silence at our friend, one of the nurses said:

"Why don't you all go to class. We'll inform you as soon as he wakes up."

"Like hell! We'll stay here and wait for Feliciano to wake up! I'm not moving a goddamn centimeter!" Do I have to tell you who said that?

The nurse sighed. "Fine, stay here. But at least go have lunch when it's time for that." She left us.

Then suddenly, the door to the infirmary burst open. In came three boys. One of them, a boy with white...hey! That was Gilbert! So that meant the blond beside him was Francis and the brunette was Antonio...I had met them before, when they came visiting us over the summer. Together those three could only mean one thing. Trouble. However, something was a bit off about this picture. Then I realised it. Gilbert and Francis where caring Antonio. I frowned. Was he hurt?

"Hey, nurse! We could use some help here!" The nurse looked at the trio and frowned as I had before.

"He passed out again?"

Francis nodded. "Oui. During potion class."

The nurse pointed at one of the beds. "Put him there."

The boys nodded and walked over to the bed. Together they lifted the brown-haired boy up on the bed. Then Gilbert finally spotted us.

"Huh, what are you doing here Luddy?"

"Feliciano fell off his broom and got hurt. He's still unconscious. What's wrong with Antonio?"

Gilbert frowned. "I wish I knew. He's been passing out a lot lately." He really sounded concerned, which was rare for my brother.

Francis nodded in agreement. "He's right! This kind of fainting can't be normal!"

* * *

_This time it's for real guys! We'll take a look from Spains pov!_

* * *

"...can't be normal!" Francis? Everything was still black.

"But hey, what happened to your friend? Feliciano was it?" That was Gilbert! But who's Feliciano? I slowly opened my eyes.

"Francis? Gilbert?" My two friends spun around and looked at me.

"Tonio! Mon ami, you're awake!" Francis exclaimed and threw his arms around me.

"I fainted again, didn't I?"

"You did." Gilbert confirmed. "Seriously, why do you keep passing out?" Gilbert sounded worried, meaning this was quite bad.

"I really don't know. But hey amigo, I'm awake now aren't I? So it's fine!" I smiled calming at him.

He sighed. "Ja, I suppose."

I looked around the room. Hey, wasn't that Gilbert's younger brother Ludwig? Then there were an asian boy and a cute boy with brown hair. In the bed next to them was a boy that looked very much like the cute one.

"Hola, Ludwig! How are you?"

"Hello Antonio and shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Came the answer.

"Heh, I suppose. Is your friend hurt?"

"Yes, he…"

"That's none of your business, is it?" The brunette beside him snapped. I just smiled in response.

"Lo siento, you're right. I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Antonio Carriedo! What's your name?"

"Lovino Vargas. Now will you shut the fuck up?"

I ignored the last comment and smiled at him instead. "Nice to meet you Lovi~!"

He flushed bright red. "Don't call me Lovi!"

I looked over to the asian boy, who had been quiet the whole time and instead watched the scene with a slight smile on his face.

"Hi! What's your name?"

"I'm Kiku Honda. Pleased to meet you."

"Don't ignore me while I'm talking to you, bastard!"

I snickered. "Sorry Lovi!"

"I told you not to call me that!"

A sudden movement from the bed behind him made him spin around quickly.

"Fratello?"

"...Lovino?"

"You, you...stupid bastard! Don't-a make me worry like that! You could have-a died! Bastardo!" He screamed at his brother, his anger making his accent come out more and made it more obvious that he was italian. How cute~!

"What happened?" The boy asked.

"You fell of your broom. Please be carefull next time, you could have been hurt!" That was the asian boy, Kiku.

I turned my gaze away from the first years and looked at my friends.

"Hey guys, I'm okay now. Can we go back to class?"

"Are you stupid? You're staying here and rest!"

"He's right! We wouldn't want for you to pass out again!"

"Yeah, that would be really unawezome!"

I sighed, giving in. "Fine, fine! I'll stay here, okay? Don't worry, I'll be okay!"

"Good! Hey, Francis we've got to now! See you Toni!"

They left the room. Soon after that, Ludwig and his friends left to, leaving only me and Feliciano at the infirmary. I soon found myself drifting off into a dark and dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

~~Toris Pov~~

I was walking down one of the corridors of the castle. It was rather peaceful tonight. There were no students in the hallway at this hour. Or so I thought. As I turned around a corner I heard voices. They were too far away for me to hear what they were saying, but there were at least five people and they sounded quite angry. Carefully I made my way over to where I thought I heard the voices.

"Like, leave me alone!" Wait! That voice…..

"And why would we do that?"

"Why are you even doing this?" No..It can't be…

"Why?" Some snickered. "You disgusts me! Painting your nails, dressing like a girl...You're not normal! You're just a freak! You're gross!"

There was a loud smack as someone was punched and the person let out a scream.

"LET ME GO! STOP IT!" The shout was followed by a sob. There were no doubt anymore. The person being hit was Feliks!

"Why should I?"

"Because…" Feliks voice broke and he sobbed.

"Are you hoping someone will come to save you? Your boyfriend maybe?"

"Don't involve Toris in this."

"Oh, you didn't deny! So he's your boyfriend after all! So that means you're both fags! Just another thing that makes you disgusting!"

"He's not my boyfriend! And don't you dare call him a fag! There's, like, nothing wrong with being homosexuall!"

Feliks screamed as the person slapped him again. AND WHY DID I JUST STAND HERE BEHIND THIS STUPID CORNER? I've got to help Feliks! Now!

"STOP THIS! NOW!" They all turned to face me. They were five people, four of them was standing a few steps away while one, a guy with a really weird hairstyle, was standing right next to Feliks, who was lying on the ground. The guy next to Feliks was a Ravenclaw as well as two of the other boys. The girl was from Slytherin and the last boy was, I can't believe it, Gryffindor! He's name was Caleb Roberts and he was the year above us. I also recognised the boy next to Feliks. His name was...Tim! Tim de Vries! He was also in year seven. He was the first to recover from the shock.

"My, my. So here he is after all. Your knight in shining armor."

"Let. Feliks. Go."

"And why would I do that?" He began to walk towards me.

"T-Tim!" Caleb suddenly stammered.

"What?" Tim hissed, clearly annoyed by his interruption.

"I hear someone." Caleb said. "Judging by the steps, it's a grown-up. Probably a teacher."

"Why didn't you hear him then?" He pointed at me.

Caleb threw his arms up in defence. "I did! You were too busy to listen!"

"You should listen to Caleb." The girl said. "Don't underestimate his hearing." Her voice and face was showed no signs of emotions. Tim made a face, but nodded.

"Let's go." They all spun around and disappeared. Caleb looked back at me once. So much pain and shame in his eyes as they asked me for forgiveness. You know what Caleb? I'm not the one to apologise to! I gave a dark look and turned away. I already knew that no teacher would come. Such a cowardly lie! But I was paying attention to the wrong thing!

"Feliks! Are you okay?"

He smiled, but it became more like a grimace. "Like, don't worry."

"What are you saying? Of course I worry! You're hurt and they...they hit you Feliks! They were bullying you! For how long has this been going on?"

He looked away. "For...a while. It hasn't been this bad before."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I was almost crying by now.

"I...don't know. I was afraid that it would be worse if I told you. Or that they would start bully you. I didn't want you to get harmed."

I just stared at him for a few moments. Then I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.

"You idiot." I whispered. "You're the one getting hurt."

When he didn't answer, I continued. "I will never let those guys hurt you again, Feliks. Never. I'll protect you from now on. And you can always talk to me if somethings wrong. I'll be by your side. You're important to me. I'll never leave you. Okay?"

A small smile grew on his face. "Okay." He softly whispered.

~~~~TFIOS anyone? Anyways time for another friend. China, I choose you!~~~~~

"Hey, Ivan?"

We were outside the castle, quite close to Hagrids hut. Before you ask, no Hagrid doesn't work here anymore. He worked here when I started, but in my fourth year he quit. I guess he was simply too old. We still call it Hagrids hut though, it would feel weird changing the name. And no, it's not allowed to be out here and especially not at this hour. But really, who cares? We'd sneak out anyways. This was the only time and place I had Ivan for myself and nothing else mattered.

"Da?" He answered.

"What are you going to to after Hogwarts?"

He looked me, a bit surprised. "I want to become an auror."

It was my turn to look surprised. "An auror? But aren't your family…" I didn't finish that sentence.

"That's the reason. Everyone believes Slytherins to be evil because of Voldemort. And everyone believes that I'm a dark wizard because my family is. I want to prove that I'm not evil. I want to prove I'm different."

I just stared at him by now. Then he turned to face my with his normal childish grin and said. "What about Yao-Yao?"

I smiled back. "Actually, I don't know aru. I haven't decided." I snickered as I remembered something. "When I was younger, I wanted to become a professor in History of Magic here at Hogwarts."

Ivan laughed as well, thinking about our current professor. "Well, I'd rather have you as teacher instead of Professor McSnortsbottom!"

We both broke into big laugh. That name! When we stopped I looked at Ivan again.

"And, you know...What about us? When we graduate from here...what will we do?"

"Yao-Yao shouldn't worry about things like that. We'll just take that time when it comes, da?"

"Yes, I guess that's for the best, aru."

I looked out at the forest. It was peaceful. I can't understand why some students finds it so scary. Sure, maybe if you go further in to it, but here just at the edge of it I found it beautiful. We sat quiet for a while. I grew up in a big family which means I'm used to have a lot of sound around me. So I decided to break the silence. Sound is more comfortalbe.

"Where were you at potion class today?" I asked him.

He shivered. "Hiding from Natalia. She's so scary! She was trying to make me marry her again."

A small touch of jealousy hit me as he spoke about her. Sometimes I wanted to just walk over to her and tell her; 'He's mine, bitch. So stay away!' You all know why I don't do that, right?

"That girl is abnormal! Hey, do you remember? That guy in sixth year, Toris Laurinaitis or something like that? He had a crush on her before I think."

"Weird taste…" Ivan mumbled.

Talking about his sister always made him gloomy. I decided to do something about that.

"Ivan, how about we go inside again? We can take a quick walk around and then go inside."

"You're freezing, da?" He asked.

I pouted. "So what? It's cold." He chuckled.

"Hehe~. It's not even autumn yet, Yao."

"It is!" I said, pretending to be hurt.

He just raised an eyebrow. "It's September."

"I know that! And September  **is** counted as an autumn month."

"Also." I added. "In less than one and a half week it will be October."

He continued to laugh and patted me on the head.

"Ivan! I'm not a child, aru!"

"Oh, no of course not!" He somehow managed to force between his chuckles.

I pouted again and turned away, pretending to be angry. Ivan put a hand on my shoulder and turned me back again so that I was facing him.

"Hehe, sorry Yao-Yao. You're just so cute~!"

I felt my face turn pink at his words. "I-I'm not cute, aru."

He smiled that childish grin again. My gosh, that smile is so cute!

*crack*

Huh? What was that? I looked around, trying to identify the source of the sound. But all I could see was trees, trees and more trees.

"Ivan? Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ivan didn't hear it? Must have been my imagination then.

"No, nothing."

"You're so silly, Yao-Yao." He slowly bent down and kissed me on the lips. I forgot the sound and everything else. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back. It was a slow, careful kiss, like the others. Yes, I've kissed him before, so be quiet okay? We pulled back and just stared into each others eyes for a few moments.

*snap*

This time, we both heard it. Ivan and I spun around, once again trying to find the source and once again, nothing but trees could be seen...

The forest was quiet for a while. So where we. Then Ivan back turned to me.

"It was probably just an animal."

I nodded. "Yeah. You're probably right. Maybe one of the students cats. But we should still go inside."

Nodding, he took my hand and we began to walk towards the castle. But I still couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched.

~~~~No ones pov.~~~~

None of the boys saw the dark silhouette that followed them. They missed the gentle steps as the person walked after them. They never heard how leaves rustle as branches were being pushed aside. None of them of them saw the green and silver colored scarf that moved lightly in the breeze. And none of them saw how the knife in the person's hand gleamed in the moonlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Calistrophia on ff.net who came up with the name McSnortsbottom!
> 
> And I'm so sorry for bullying Feliks! I just...okay I have no excuse... Still sorry though! (or am I...^J^)
> 
> Can you guess who the stalker was? Okay, I know. Pretty obvious! XD
> 
> Tim is Netherland and Caleb is no one. I just needed a bully. Too be honest, I have no idea who the other guys was, nor the girl...
> 
> Also...WHY CAN'T I WRITE RUSSIA? He always gets OOC... le sigh... I'll blame it on that he gets like that when he's with China ^^''


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of spanish in this one and all the translations are in the end! If something is wrong, tell me and I'll correct it!

Feliciano was released later that evening. The teachers allowed him to skip classes the next two days so he could rest. Kiku and I kept him company when we didn't have classes. Lovino tried to sneak into the Gryffindor dorms, but he obviously failed. Now, three days after the incident, we were all sitting in the library, trying to study. Key word: trying. Feliciano's attention was on anything but his books and Lovino was cursing everything, including his homework, Feliciano and that flying book that just hit him in the head. I was disturbed by them both, so Kiku was the only one who actually managed to get some work done.

There were quite a lot of people on the library today. Most were sitting in groups and either studying or "studying", but a few were sitting by themselves. I have a feeling they were most successful with their works. Even my brother and his two friends were here and Francis were at the moment trying to force a blond Slytherin boy to sit with them. I can't say he was very successful.

Oh, and here comes Heracles, Kikus Hufflepuff friend! The greek greeted us with a sleepy nod and a even sleepier 'hello'. He sat down next to Kiku and less than five minutes later, he was asleep on Kiku's shoulder. Kiku just continued to read, like he hadn't even noticed the other boy. I was a bit surprised by this, knowing my friend were usually were picky about his personal space. I raised an eyebrow at him. He responded by shrugging his right shoulder (Heracles slept on the left), but I noticed the slight pink color that rose on his cheeks. I managed to hide my giggle, Feliciano wasn't as discrete.

"Ve~, look Luddy! Heracles and Kiku looks so cute together, right?"

Kiku blushed brighter, coughed and looked away. Lovino mumbled something about his "fratello idiota" and I sighed at Felis oblivious smile.

To be honest, I'm not sure what happened next, but at least it helped breaking the awkward mood.

"LOVINOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A brunette with hair in two ponytails and bright green eyes suddenly popped up and hugged Lovino from behind. But wait! She really resembled someone….

"Argh, Sofía! What the fuck are you doing?"

"Hola Lovi~ I managed to scare you, no?"

Oh.

I didn't know Antonio had a little sister.

I really had no idea.

But it make sense.

They are very much alike.

Very much.

The younger, female version of Antonio (who apparently was called Sofía) giggled and grabbed Lovino's arm.

"Come on, Lovi! ¡Vamos a encontrar a mi hermano!"

"You know I don't speak spanish, idiota! And let me go!"

Still giggling, Sofía ignored him and dragged him away to...somewhere. I have no idea what she said. I speak english and german, not spanish.

We were all quiet for a few moments after Sofía and Lovino had disappeared, all staring in the direction they went. Heracles, who had woken up from the sound, stated what everyone was thinking.

"What just happened?"

* * *

When all classes had ended, Feliciano and I went back to the dorm while Kiku went to the library with Heracles. Feli sat on his bed, reading a book while I tried to study once again. After a while, Feli dropped his his book, sighed and looked at me.

"Luddyyy! I'm bored!"

"Why don't you try to study? Or at least let me study in peace." I sighed.

He whined and said something like 'please Luddy~'.

"Just study."

He whined again, but actually picked up a book and began to read. However, it didn't take long before he turned to me again.

"Ludwig, can you explain this? I don't understand."

He showed me a side in the herbology book.

"You don't understand that?" I asked, quite confused. It was rather simple. "Here, I'll explain it to you."

It took me perhaps ten minutes to explain to Feliciano. He asked the same questions over and over again, until he finally understood. When he did, he jumped in joy and gave a little shout.

"Thank you so much Luddy~! Thank you!" Then, without any kind of warning, he stood on tip-toe and pressed his lips softly against my cheek.

Wait. Did Feli just kiss me? My face burned, it was probably bright red.

"F-feli! Did you just...Why did you…You...kissed me?"

I must have sounded angrier than I thought, because Feliciano looked like he was about to start crying.

"I'm so sorry Ludwig! I always do that to mio nonno e mio fratello! Fratello always yells at me though! But it's normal in Italia! I didn't think I just did it! I'm so sorry Ludwig, please don't be mad at me! I'm so sorryyyyyyy!"

"Feli." He continued to ramble, but in italian now. "Feli, listen. It's okay I'm not mad at you." He stopped and looked at me. "Don't worry, it's okay. Just don't...just don't do it again."

No, wait. What am I saying? 'I don't want him to do it again?'. But that's...that's not true…..WHAT AM I THINKING? Do I WANT him to kiss me? No. Yes. STOP IT! Shut up inner-mind voice. Leave me alone. I don't want to kiss him (yes you do), we're just friends (no you're not) and I don't think of him as anything but that (and denial isn't just a river in Egypt).

Feli smiled widely at me. "Ve, okay Luddy! I won't. I promise!"

Felis cat, Angel entered the room and Felis attention was quickly drawn to the cat. As he began to play with Angel, I turned back to my homework. But I couldn't get rid of the weird feeling in my stomach.

* * *

Pov change! Time for Spains a... ahem, Spain.

* * *

"¡Hermano!"

My adorable little sister Sofía called at me. She came running toward me and dragged that equally adorable italian boy with her.

"Hola, Sofía and Lovi~"

As expected Lovino immediately replied with a 'I told you not to call me that!'. Aw, he's so cute when he's mad~

Sofía looked slightly confused. "¿Has conocido a mi amigo antes?"

I smiled and patted her head. "English Sofía, english! We're not in Spain! And yes I have. We met in the hospital wing." Woups…Slip of the tongue... Sofía immediately got a more serious look in her eyes.

"¿Estaba allí a causa de su enfermedad?" Oh, how thankful I were for her speaking spanish in that moment. I laughed and put up a big smile so that neither she nor the others would notice my reaction.

"No, no. Francis sprained an ankle, so that was why I was there. Oh, right! How's your brother Lovi?" Smooth change in subject, Antonio, very smooth. I could feel Francis and Gilbert glare at me, but I ignored them.

"He's okay now. He sits over there with that potato bastard and two other guys. He rested the two days before. Fucking gryffindor bastards wouldn't let me in to see him." His face became red when he realised what he just said. "It-it's not like I really care… Just that nonno would kill me if Feliciano was injured."

"Aw, Lovi~! You're so cute!" Ouch. Hugging him was a bad idea. He's good at headbutting.

"Don't touch me bastardo!" He shouted.

"Okay, okay. I won't. Can I still say you're cute?"

"Of course you can't idiota!"

"Aw, that's too bad. You really are!"

"I… I'm leaving. Ciao, bastardos!" He spun around and left. Sofía shouted a 'wait for me' and ran after him. As soon as they where gone, I once again felt Gilberts and Francis glares burned in my neck. Oh, man here we go. Wounder if there's any way to escape hell...

"Toni."

Mierda.

"Sí, Francis?"

There were a short pause before he spoke.

"Why did you lie to Sofía? And what did she say?"

"Nothing, amigo, nothing."

Gilbert snorted. "You're a horrible liar, Toni. What are you hiding?"

"I don't understand what you mean. What could I be hiding from you guys?"

"You know exactly what I mean, dummkopf." Gilbert sighed. "We're friends. Why won't you talk to us? I'm the most awesome listener ever!"

Francis gave me an almost pleading look. "Please, mon ami. We're only worried about you."

"Like I said, it's nothing." I paused. "Hey. Wanna to go prank professor McSnortsbottom?"

They glared at me for a short moment, then decided to let it go. A mischievous grin spread on both their faces.

"Kesesesese! Of course! Let's pull of the most awesome prank in history!"

"Oh yes! There were quite some time since we pranked her."

"I don't know if last week counts as 'quite some time', Francis."

"We did prank professor Longbottom twice a week once." He pointed out.

I laughed. "True. Then, since it was so long since we pranked her, shouldn't we do a big prank this time?"

All three of laughed as we ran of to her office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Neville got to be in this one! :D Indirectly, but whatever.
> 
> Here are the spainish translations:
> 
> ¡Vamos a encontrar a mi hermano! - Let's find my brother!
> 
> ¡Hermano! - Brother! (though many of you probably knew that)
> 
> ¿Has conocido a mi amigo antes? - Have you met my friend before?
> 
> ¿Estaba allí a causa de su enfermedad? - Were you... You know what? I won't translate that! If you want to know now, go translate it by yourself. If you don't want to know, then wait. Your choice! ;p
> 
> Mierda - Shit
> 
> Okay, Italian translations:
> 
> Nonno - grandfather
> 
> I don't have to translate dummkopf do I?
> 
> In case you didn't get that thing about denial being a river in Egypt: try to say 'the Nile' fast ten times.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains rochu only, because they need that. I will do the same for the other pairings at some point, trust me! And yes, this chapter is kinda long... I just wrote and wrote and then realised how much I had written... ^.^'
> 
> Kasen is Thailand by the way. And (Im) Yong Soo is Korea.

It started at the first lesson, potion class. Someone had taken my book and destroyed about twenty pages. They were teared apart, drawn on or completely teared out of the book. The same someone who had done this had also written 'Leave' with capital letters on the front page.

It could have been anyone. It could have been that seventh grader who always seemed to look after new victims too bully. It could have been one of those guys from Slytherin who always glared at me and seemed to dislike me with every cell of their bodys. But it could also be  _her._

When I was about to return to my dorm after lunch, a statue fell from it's place and would clearly have stabbed me if not Yekaterina, Ivans older sister and a fellow Hufflepuff, had saved me.

It could have been an accident. The statue could have been loose. Or maybe it was  _her._

Incidents happened all day. Things fell from the walls, my books were destroyed, things flew across the room and almost hit me, someone cursed my broom during quidditch training. It was uncontrollable, in the end I fell of. My sister Mei managed to save me, with help from a boy from second year.

It could still be accidents, or Tim de Vries or another bully. Right?

On my way back to the dorm again, something flew past my face, so fast I couldn't even see what it was. Blood dripped from my nose where the object had hit me, and I heard the painting next to me scream. Covering my nose, I turned to it. My blood froze in my veins. Stuck in the painting was a long knife. It had almost hit the man in the painting. He was at the moment hiding in the corner, trembling like a leaf in the wind. A small streak of blood ran down from the knife. From the it hung a note. I didn't want to read it. Still, my hands slowly reached for it.

_The next knife hits you in the chest. Stay away from big brother!_

It really was her. Natalia was after me. She would kill me. The noises in the forest… She saw us. Oh god. She saw us! What should I do, what should I do? She'll kill me, she'll hurt others… My siblings! She might hurt my siblings! I can't let that happen! But how can I protect them? They are all in different years and Mei is the only one in my house. I can't protect them all at the same time!

"Yao?"

A familiar voice called my name.

"Yao? Are you oka…."

Ivan froze at the sight of the knife. He knelt down next to me. I hadn't even noticed I had sank to my knees. Ivan's hands gently touched my shoulders, but it was as if I couldn't feel them. They were like ghost hands. Slowly he took the note out of my hands. I heard him gasp and mumble something in russian. His hands, no his entire body, were trembling as he pulled me into a hug.

"Oh, Yao." He whispered. "Oh, Yao. I won't let her hurt you. I will protect you. She won't be able to hurt you. She won't be able to separate us. Trust me Yao." He continued to whisper into my ear as he stroke me gently over my hair.

"I will never let her hurt you."

* * *

I've never been so scared in my entire life. Wherever I walked, I was afraid. I couldn't rest, couldn't calm down. I jumped at every single noise. At night, dreams of Natalia killing me and my family kept me awake. The teachers, my friends, my siblings all shot me worried looks. Even Yong Soo seemed to notice that something was wrong.

A couple of days after the knife incident, Ivan asked me to meet him in the astronomy tower later that evening. He looked so pale when I got there. We both sat there quiet for a while. Finally, Ivan opened his mouth and spoke.

"Natalia contacted my parents."

_No._

"She told them about us. About me being in a relationship with another boy."

_No._

"They will…" Ivan paused. He took a deep breath and rested his head in his hands for a moment. "They are going to take me home. They will forbid me to see you."

_This can't be happening._

The world were spinning. Why? Why would this happen to us? To me. To Ivan. His parents would kill him. They would never accept his homosexuallity. They would do anything in their power to make him what they called 'normal'. My vision started to get blurry and I hid my face in Ivan's shoulder.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered to him.

"I don't know, Yao. I don't know."

"How long?"

Ivan hesitated before answering. "Two days."

No! It's too soon! I never asked for this! I don't want Ivan to leave!

"I know Yao. I don't want to either." I hadn't realised that I had spoken out load.

"Isn't there any way we can escape this?"

Ivan looked out in the night. Past the forbidden forest, past the horizon. To where neither of us could see.

"We could run away."

His words took me by surprise. Run away? But...how?

"Ivan, how could we possible do that, aru? We're only fifteen years old. How could we survive? People will look for us. And my siblings...my family…"

"There's no other way Yao! It's the only way we can be together! They stopped using the tracking marks after the war, so they can't track us using them. We can use spells to hide ourselves. We can travel wherever we want!"

"But Kiku, Mei, Lien, Leon, Kasen and Yong Soo. What about them?"

Ivan sighed and looked at me with sad eyes. "I'm sorry Yao. But they will be fine here and at home."

I swallowed hard. I would have to leave them? I understood that I couldn't bring them, but it still felt horrible. Kiku would never forgive forgive me. He always thought I didn't act like the brother I should. I wasn't there when he needed me the most. He would never forgive a betrayal like this. None of my sibling would.

"I...I can say goodbye to them, right?"

The look Ivan gave me was answer enough. Tears fell down my cheeks again as Ivan hugged me like there would be no tomorrow. As soon as I thought that I realised. That maybe it wouldn't be.

And that was exactly why Ivan wanted to leave as soon as possible. The longer we stayed the bigger the risk that something happened. That was also the best way for me to protect Kiku and the others. If I stayed here, they were in much bigger danger. Ivan was right. This was the only way! And we had to leave now! As much as it hurt to admit it, it was true. As much as I would miss my life here, there were no other way.

I quickly rose from my seat and walked over to the railing of the tower. It was pitch black outside. A few starts twinkled up in the sky and the moon shone in a silver light. Hogwarts was a truly beautiful place. I was scared. I was so torn between my life here, my family, everything I knew and my love for Ivan. But did I really have a choice? No.

"We must leave." I said, my back still turned to Ivan. "And we must leave now."

I turned back to him again. He seemed slightly taken back by my sudden confidence in our escape, but soon smiled brightly at me and nodded.

"Da."

* * *

I tried to not wake my dorm mates as I packed my stuff in a small backpack. I knew I wouldn't be able to carry to much, which meant I would have to leave lots of things. I packed some warm clothes, some chinese snacks (what, I had no other food), a thick blanket, a water bottle and a photo of me and my siblings. It was taken last year, at our summer house. They all looked so much like...themselves. Leon and Kiku refused to smile while Yong Soo shone like a thousand watt lamp. I took the photo out of it's frame and folded it neatly before putting it in my bag. I hesitated before grab my old plushie too. Don't judge me, it's a small panda that I've had since I was a newborn. I wanted something with me, beside the photo, to remind me of my home and life I was about to leave behind.

Slowly I made my way out of the room. I managed to sneak all the way to the Hufflepuff common room, but then…

"MEOW!"

"Aiyaaa!" I whisper-screamed. Oh, I'm so screwed! Please, please, please tell me that no one woke up!

"Who's -yawn- there?"

So much for hoping. A short boy with brown hair entered the room. He was probably in first year. I think I recognise him from somewhere…

The boy yawned again and stepped closer to me. The cat immediately ran over to him. He picked it up and began stroking its hazelnut colored fur. Now I know! He's Kiku friend! What was his name again… Kap-Kapisku? No. Karpusi! Heracles Karpusi! How the hell, excuse my language, did I managed to wake Karpusi? Wasn't he famous, or rather infamous, for always sleeping?

"Hera ran away." The boy suddenly said. What the hell again? Can he read minds or what?

"I heard her meow so I thought I'd check what happened. Why are you up?"

"I-I have prefect duty, aru."

"Do you need a bag for that?" He tilted his head to the side, making him look like a confused kitten. A kitten was probably a good description in general.

"Well….Sometimes?"

"Where are you going?" Why you little nosey kid! Sorry, I felt like I was running out of time. Someone else might come!

"Listen, I want you to go to bed and pretend that nothing happened here. It's really important, aru. If you tell anyone that you saw me, something might happen to my brother. His name is Kiku, you know him, right?." I know, that was unfair. But I had no choice!

The boy reacted when Kiku was mentioned. "I don't want Kiku to get hurt. I like him, as much as I like cats."

Awww~ So cuuuuute~ Ahem, sorry.

"Good. Then, can you promise me that you will protect him for me? Make sure nothing bad happens to him?"

Karpusi nodded rapidly. Well, rapidly for him at least. I suddenly remembered the little panda plushie in my bag. Sure, I'd leave one of my two reminders of home, but it was for Kiku… I reached for my bag and took it out.

"Can you do one more thing for me?" I asked him and he nodded. "Please, give this to Kiku."

He took the panda and held it to his chest, careful to not hurt his cat. "Of course."

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Karpusi. Now, go back to sleep. I must go."

He nodded again and slowly went back to his room. I sneaked out of the common room and carefully made my way out of the castel. There stood Ivan, waiting for me. He had a small backpack, similar to mine, in his right hand. And in his left… Will someone be kind enough to tell me why he held a piece of raw meat in his left hand?

"Um… Ivan?"

"Da?"

"Um...Why...You have a...Raw meat?"

Ivan laughed at my attempt to ask him about the meat. "You'll see Yao-Yao. You'll see."

We walked into the forbidden forest. Ivan couldn't seriously be thinking we should escape this way?! In that case, we were doomed to die! Suddenly, Ivan stopped. He threw the piece of meat and it disappeared into thin air! Ivan laughed at the probably confused expression on my face.

"So Yao can't see them?" He asked. I shook my head.

"They are called thestrals. They can only be seen by people who have seen death."

I shot him a questioning look. "My cousin." Came the answer.

"So…" I began. "We're supposed to use these...thestrals, to escape?"

Ivan nodded. "Da. The one who just ate the meat trusts me. I've known him since we were in second year."

"So you're telling me I'm supposed to ride on something I can't even see?"

"Da."

* * *

_Why did I agree to this?_ I hugged Ivan as hard as I could and tried to not look down. It looked like there were nothing below us, even if I could feel the thestrals body! THIS IS SO GOD DAMN SCARY! PLEASE LET ME DOWN!

Finally, finally, we arrived at...wherever we were. Sitting down to prevent my legs from shaking, I looked around.

"What is this place Ivan?"

"It's an old cave. We're just outside Hogsmeade. I think a wizard hid here just before the war. He was killed later by Voldemort. His name was...Black something I think. I overheard a couple of students talking about it."

I looked back at the castel. Even with the pain in my chest, I felt happy. We had succeeded! We had fled from Hogwarts, Natalia and Ivan's parents! We were free!

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... It's only Gerita in this chapter... It would have been way too long with another pov!

Ludwig's Pov

I sat in the common room with Feliciano and Kiku. We were playing a card game when Lien, Kiku's sister, came in.

"Kiku. You need to come with me. Right now."

The tone in her voice made it clear that she wouldn't tolerate any kind of objection. But she wasn't angry at him. She seemed tired, worried and...afraid. Kiku looked at his sister, then nodded and walked over to her. She put a hand on Kiku's shoulder and they quickly exited the room. Vash, a second-year, looked up from the book he had been reading.

"What was that?" He asked with a frown. Not knowing the answer, I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head slightly.

"I don't understand, Ludwig." Feliciano said. "What has happened? Has Kiku done something?"

"No, Feli. I don't think that's it."

"Then what could it be?"

"Perhaps something has happened with his family?"

A shadow flew over Felis otherwise ever-happy face. It was there for no more than a second, but it was there.

"I hope not. Oh poor Kiku! What if something really has happened? When will he come back? Maybe we should go check if he's okay?" Now he rambled again.

"Feli I think we should wait until he comes back? Right? Besides, we don't even know where they went."

"To the headmasters office. Where else?" I turned my head to Vash, who pretended to read his book again.

"Has no one told you that it's rude to eavesdrop?"

He shrugged. "It's not like i wanted to listen, but you talk so loud that it's impossible to not hear you." He said, with his face still in the book. What was that for kind of book anyways?  _Muggle Weapons_? Whatever, better not question.

"Luddy, can we please go and see if they are there? Please, Luddy?"

"I...I guess we can..." I mumbled. God, I have to be better at resist his puppy-dog eyes!

"Yay!" Feliciano exclaimed and threw his arms around me. I could feel my face heat up, but for some reason I just couldn't push him away. I heard Vash chuckle lightly and glared at him. Regaining his neutral expression, and still reading he said. "You are aware of the fact that you need a password, right?"

"Well, what's the password then?"

"How would I know?"

Irritated, I sighed. The way he said it was really provoking. "How can we get the password?"

"Go ask your brother. Or Emma de Vries. She's one of the Hufflepuff prefects. "

I sighed again and turned to Feli. "Come Feli. Gilbert can be anywhere. We'll have to find him if we want to know what's going on with Kiku."

Just before we exited the common room I heard Vash voice behind us. "If I were you, I'd check the library. If he's not with the other two idiots, he's probably flirting with Hedévàry or fighting over her with Ro-...I mean Edelstein." He coughed.

"How do you know that?"

"I have my ways."

Well...Okay. He had his ways... And whatever ways it was, it was not interesting at the moment, I told myself. Feliciano and I left the room and almost ran over to the library.

Vash had been right. Gilbert was in the library, with Antonio and Francis.  _And_ flirting with a girl I assumed was 'Hedévàry'.  _And_ a boy, probably 'Edelstein', was glaring at him like he would kill Gilbert instantly if the girl hadn't been there. We walked over to the group. Antonio was the first one to notice us.

"Hola amigos! Are you here to speak to Gilbert?"

"Ve~ Hi Antonio! Sí, we are! We need to ask him about the pass-Mptf!" I quickly put a hand over Feliciano's mouth. Mein gott, we couldn't let the entire library know that we wanted the password!

"Pass? What pass?" Thank god that Antonio was so oblivious. However, a certain french boy had heard what Feli had said. And said french boy was not that oblivious.

"Maybe you meant password, mon cher? Perhaps...The password to the headmaster's office?" Francis said with a smirk.

Feli nodded. Oh god damn it... I forgot he could nod...

"Well, you don't need Gilbert for that! We all know the password you see!" Antonio said, smiling widely.

"Should I ask how you even know how you know the password?"

Francis laughed. "No, no! Of course not mon cher! And of course, you didn't get it from us if anyone would ask. And in return we won't ask you why you need it, or tell anyone that you asked for it. Deal?"

"Why do you sound like a drug dealer?"

Antonio literally fell to the floor while laughing. "Oh...my...god...!" He managed to force out. "Ludwig...that was...amazing! Francis...a drug dealer...OH MY GOD!" Francis was still just staring at me, then he started laughing too.

After a while, they calmed down and Francis helped Antonio of the floor. "That was really good, Ludwig, I'll give you that!" Francis admitted.

Antonio nodded, still giggling a little. "The password is 'Remembrall'." He turned his attention to Francis. "Hey, drug dealer! Maybe we should Gil and that aristocrat from killing each other?"

"Hey! Stop that, Tonio! And since when do you care about Gil or the prissy austrian?"

"Since Gil's mum send him that homemade candy."

I just shook my head as the two began walking over to their fighting friend and...not friend.

"MUPTF!"

"Woups. Sorry Feli!"

"Why did you do that Luddy?" He whined.

"Because I thought you'd tell the entire world what we wanted to ask Gilbert about. Come now, Feli! We need to hurry to the office!"

"Right!"

We pretty much ran out of the library, which caused us to literally bump into Heracles.

"Hi Heracles, sorry, but we're in a bit of a hurry!"

I helped both him and Feliciano up and prepared to leave when Heracles grabbed my sleeve.

"Wait. Have you seen Kiku? I have something I need to give him."

"Um...we're actually..."

"I think something have happened to him!" Feli suddenly said, or rather shouted. "You know he has a sister right? She came and told Kiku to follow her and we think they went to the headmaster's office and that something has happened to him or his family and we have the password to the office now so we are going there now and see how he..."

"Feli." I put an arm on his shoulder. "Breath."

"Oh, right. Air is important, I have to breath." He said while taking a couple of deep breaths.

I looked back at Heracles again. "What Feli just tried to say was that we're going to the headmaster's office to see what's happening. Would you like to come with us?"

The greek boy nodded sleepily and we made our way to the office.

* * *

"Remembrall!" The gargoyle swung aside to reveal the stairs up to the office. We walked up and stopped outside a big wood door. Pressing our ears against it, we could hear voices talking.

"...CAN'T JUST LEAVE THEM! Shouted an angry voice. To my surprise, the voice sounded a lot like...Lien? What could be so urgent that calm, stoic Lien shouted like that?

"Miss Wang, please calm down..."

"HOW CAN YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN IN THIS KIND OF SITUATION?"

"Lien! Don't be so rude to the headmaster!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP KASEN?

"DON'T SPEAK TO KASEN LIKE THAT!" Another female voice screamed.

"I SPEAK LIKE I WANT MEI!"

"Please...screaming won't help..." A third female voice said. She clearly wasn't one of Kiku's siblings, she had more of a slavic accent.

"Your crying won't help either, sis!" Someone snapped.

"Please be quite!" The headmaster's voice echoed. The room instantly went quiet. "Like Miss Braginski pointed, screaming won't help. I'm sure there's a way to figure this out. And I also believe that we have a couple of eavesdroppers." He stated calmly, and the door suddenly swung open, causing me, Feli and Heracles to tumble into the room. We all fell and landed on top of eachother. Embarrassed, we tried to untangle ourselves, while the rest of the room stared at us. Kiku suddenly ran over to us and almost hid behind us like a scared rabbit.

"We-we're sorry, Professor Longbottom! We were just worried about Kiku and..." The professor held up a hand to silence me.

"Don't worry, Mr Beilschmidt. I understand." He smiled kindly before turning to Kiku. "Mr Wang, do you want your friend to stay here?"

Kiku nodded, holding Heracles arm in a tight grip. "Good. Then maybe we should start over? Without the screaming, please." Professor Longbottom eye down almost everyone in this room. Which was Lien, a girl from Hufflepuff I guessed was Mei and two guys that also looked like siblings to Kiku. One had glasses and looked kinda serious like Lien, while the other one looked more carefree and laidback. One of them must be Kasen then. On the other side of the room stood two girls, one with long dirty blond hair that looked ready to kill everyone and then one who was probably the other girl's older sister. She had short, almost grey colored hair and looked, in contrast of her younger sibling, like she would break down and cry any minute. She also had...How should I put it... A slightly oversized chest?

"Good. Like I said, it looks like Yao Wang and Ivan Braginski disappeared last night. We have no idea where they are at the moment. Of course, we want to find them as soon as possible. I understand that it's shocking news for all of you, but we need to speak to you. Do you have any idea why Mr Wang and Mr Braginski has disappeared? Or if they'd do something like that on their free will? In order to find them as soon as possible, we need all information we can get." The headmaster looked out in the room. He looked so tired and old. I mean, sure he was rather old, and probably tired, but you understand what I mean.

"We know nothing." The guy with the glasses stated calmly. "Neither of us can see any reason of why our brother would disappear. Nor do any of us know Braginski."

"Yao haven't said anything about not liking the school or anything in that way." Mei said.

"Ivan haven't said anything either." Said the girl whom I presumed was Ivan's older sister.

The headmaster leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Do you know if Mr Wang and Mr Braginski had any contact? Were they friends?"

"Why would they be?" Snapped the girl with long hair.

"Natalia...Please don't be rude..." Her sister said.

"There's no need for a fight." Sighed Professor Longbottom. "I will ask you all once more. Did your siblings know each other?"

"I see no reason for Ivan to be hanging out with...that Hufflepuff!" Natalia said and glared at Kiku's siblings.

"Excuse me?! Are you saying Hufflepuff is a bad house? Well I can assure you, I wouldn't even want Yao close to your brother! You know what they say about him don't you?" Mei said, well shouted, back at Natalia.

"What they say about  _my_ brother? Oh you..." And so, the screaming was starting over. I looked around, desperate to find some kind of solution for this, when the headmaster suddenly rose from his seat and slammed his hands in the table.

"Silence!" He barely had to shout, there were enough power in his voice to silence them anyways.

"This is no use! I will speak to you later, one and one. Please go back to your dorms."

"Wait, professor!" Heracles voice suddenly piped up. We all turned to him and by the surprise in everyone's faces, I guess I looked the same myself.

Heracles slowly took something out of his robe. A small stuffed panda. At first, there were no reaction. Then Mei suddenly shouted something that I didn't understand, Lien looked like she was about to throw up, the guy with glasses looked like he'd seen a ghost and the other guy literally dropped his jaw and stared at the stuffed animal. Kiku looked like a combination of Lien and his two brothers.

"Heracles... How...Where did you get that?" He asked slowly, almost like he was afraid to hear the answer.

"Your brother gave it to me." Heracles answered with his sleepy voice. "He told me to give it to you."

No one seemed to know to react. Professor Longbottom coughed then said. "I thought I told you to go back to your dorms? Mr Beilschmidt, Mr Honda, Mr Karpusi and Mr Vargas, please stay here."

Everyone else muttered things and seemed unwilling to leave. It wasn't until the headmaster asked if he had made himself clear or not, that they left.

"So, Mr Karpusi. Tell me again, Mr Wang gave this panda to you?"

"Yes."

"Did he tell you anything else?"

Now Heracles looked nervous. "Well..." The greek boy began. "He told me to protect Kiku and make sure nothing happens to him..." Was Kiku blushing? Hehe, how cute! Ahem, sorry Kiku... "But he told me to not tell anyone that I had met him!" Heracles continued. "He said something would happen to Kiku if I did! Was it bad of me to tell, professor? Will Kiku get hurt now?"

Professor Longbottom smiled and shook his head. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to him. Was it anything else you noticed?"

Heracles thought for a minute then said. "He was carrying a bag with him."

The headmaster smiled again. "Thank you Mr Karpusi. You may all leave now. I trust you all to take care of Mr Honda now, okay?"

"Yes, headmaster." The three of us said in unison.

We left the office, but once we got out we just stood there. No one knew what to do now. Feliciano was surprisingly quiet, clinging to my arm. Kiku was holding Heracles arm in a similar way. He looked like he would faint any minute, he was so pale. With a sudden sob, he sank to his knees and covered his eyes. Feli released my arm and sank down next to Kiku. Heracles did the same. Slowly and carefully, Feli wrapped his arms around our crying friend. Quietly, he began humming. Soon, the humming turned into a song.

" _Cover my eyes."_

" _Cover my ears."_

" _Tell me these words are a lie."_

" _It can't be true."_

" _That I'm losing you."_

" _The sun cannot fall from the sky."_

He had a beautiful voice. It was soft, calming and almost angelic.

" _Can you hear heaven cry."_

" _Tears of an angel."_

" _Tears of an angel."_

" _Tears of an angel."_

Kiku continued to sob against Feliciano's shoulder. Heracles look like he could start crying too and I had to fight back the tears myself. I think it was Felis singing. It was beautiful, in the most painful way. It brought up the sadness in the situation and somewhat, it made me realise just how painful this was for Kiku.

" _So hold on."_

" _Be strong."_

" _Everyday on we'll go."_

" _I'm here, don't you fear."_

" _Little one, don't let go."_

" _Oooooooh."_

" _Don't let go."_

" _Ooooooh."_

As wrong as it felt, to think that kind of thoughts in this situation, this was perhaps when I realised it. Looking at Feli when he sat there, holding Kiku and singing. Perhaps it was then I realised, that my feelings for the italian boy in front of me went beyond those of friendship.

" _Cover my eyes."_

" _Cover my ears."_

" _Tell me this words are a lie."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Feli is singing is called Tears of and Angel!


	8. Chapter 8

Lithuania's Pov:

"Toris, Toris! Have you heard?"

I looked at my friend with little interest. Feliks often came running with 'news', but that was mostly that two persons had hooked up or something.

"Heard what?" I asked, as per usual when he came with his news.

"Oh my god, Toris! You have to keep up! People will think you've lived under a rock or something!"

"Back to the subject, Feliks. What's going on?"

"Ivan Braginsky and Yao Wang from fifth year has disappeared!"

Wait...What?

"Hold on Feliks. What do you mean disappeared?"

"Well I don't know! I, like, only heard that they were gone and that no one has seen them since yesterday and that they can't be found anywhere!"

"But...that shouldn't be possible! How could someone leave the grounds without anyone noticing? It's impossible! They must be somewhere in the castel!"

Feliks gave me a look. "Don't you, like, think people have searched for them?"

Well...He did have a point.

"They could be in the forbidden forest?"

"You mean; they corpses could be in the forbidden forest."

He did have a point again. Unfortunately.

"Oh don't be so pessimistic. I'm sure they'll turn up soon."

"What if..." Feliks lowered his voice into a whisper. "They've...eloped?"

"What? Eloped? Feliks, for God's sake! You've watched way too many romantic movies! I doubt that this is some kind of Romeo and Juliet thing!"

He wasn't listening. Well, no surprise there. He was rambling about how romantic it would be and stuff like that. To be honest, I had quite some trouble imagining those two fifth years as a couple. To me, they seemed like night and day. Well maybe that was how people saw me and Feliks. Like night and day.  _And everyone knows that night can't exist without the day._ Brain. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. And for your information, dear brain, everyone knows that night and day can never be together.

"Toris? Hello, Toris? Toris where are you?"

 _Woups._ "Sorry, Feliks. Looks like I spaced out again."

"Geez, Toris! You can't space out like that all the time! That's like, totally rude!"

I laughed. "Hey, I said sorry, didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah."

I laughed even more at his pouting face. "Geez, Feliks! Don't be like that! Come on, I'll treat you to that chocolate I bought in Hogsmeade, okay?"

Feliks smirked. "Yay!" He exclaimed happily and threw a fist in the air. "Let's go eat it right now!"

"Feliks!" I exclaimed as he began to drag me towards the dorms. "We have divination in five minutes!"

"Who cares? Let's skip!"

"We can't just skip class! I'm a prefect!"

He stopped and turned to me slowly. And put up his cutest face. "Please, Toris? Pleeeeeease?"

"No. I'm not falling for that face again."

"Tooriiiis…. Pleeeeeease?"

"Nope. Not working." Then I made the big mistake to look him in the eyes. "Fine…"

"Yay! You're the best Toris!"

"I fell for it again, didn't I?"

Feliks smirked wildly at me. "Do you really need to ask that? You know can't resist my adorableness."

I sighed as he proceeded to drag me to the dorms. "I know, I know…"

* * *

So here we were. Sitting on my bed eating chocolate instead of going to our lesson. We were chatting about everything and nothing, when Feliks suddenly blurted out.

"Hey, Toris? Do you like someone?"

"What?" I could feel my face heat up. Shit! "N-no. I don't. Wh-why would you think that?"

"You're such a horrible liar, Toris. You keep spacing out all the time. And whenever I try to ask you, you turn totally red! You're totally thinking about someone you like!" He smirked. "You're pretty red right now. "

"Shut up." I mumbled.

"Come on, why won't you tell me? I'm your best friend!" Now he seriously sounded hurt. But I couldn't tell him, could I? So I just kept quiet. I could feel his gaze on me, until he suddenly changed tactic.

"TICKLE-ATTACK!"

"Nooooooooo! I -ahaha-! FELIKS! Sto-hahaha-stop it! Feliks!"

"Never!" He exclaimed with a mischievous grin. "Not until you tell me who you like!"

"Never gonna-hahaha- happen!"

And so we went on, until we somehow managed to fall off the bed. Feliks fell right on top of me. And we both went quiet. Neither of us moved. I just stared into his beautiful green eyes. I should say something, I told myself. Or move away. I didn't do any of those things.  
I have no idea who moved first, but we came closer and closer to each other. Then our lips finally met and a thousand of fireworks set off in my stomach. He ran a hand through my hair and deepened the kiss. After what seemed like an eternity but at the same time like a mere second, the lack of oxygen became too great and we had to part. For a while we just lay there and stared into each other's eyes again.

"Um…" Feliks began, almost whispering. "I...um…"

I laughed quietly at his very flustered face. "Shut up and kiss me again."

He laughed as well. "I love you." He whispered just before his lips met mine again.

* * *

My head was in the clouds for days after that. Even if we didn't want for anyone else to find out about the change in our relationship, we just couldn't keep away from each other when we were alone. Don't get any dirty thoughts. We kissed. That's all. And as much as we tried to hide our relationship, I have a feeling my brother Eduard managed to figure it out. He got such a knowing smile on his face the day after our….eh, confession. I guess you just can't fool a Ravenclaw…. At least a ravenclaw like my brother.

But then, I noticed how something changed. Tim was being worse than ever, and as much as I tried to protect Feliks, sometimes I couldn't. But that wasn't all. Those who had called themselves our friends started to keep their distance. One by one, they slowly disappeared. They started by avoiding Feliks. Then me. And when our allies disappeared, Tim could easily bully Feliks. Which made more people back away. Because they were all scared of Tim. Suddenly, our lives had turned into a dark spiral leading us deeper and deeper into the darkness of hell.

Every now and then, Feliks would return to our dorms with bruises and sometimes even bleeding wounds. And I couldn't do anything for him but treat his wounds and try to comfort him. I couldn't do anything to stop Tim. I tried my best to protect Feliks, but sometimes I couldn't be where he was. And that was when Tim striked.

The door opened and in came Feliks. Without a word he stumbled over to his bed and threw himself onto it.

"Feliks?"

He didn't answer. Slowly I got up and walked over to him.

"Feliks?" I tried again. Again, he refused to answer. "Tim was harassing you again wasn't he? What did he do this time?"

He was quiet for a while. Then he almost whispered. "He knows Toris. He knows about our relationship."

The world came crashing around me. No. This was the last thing we needed right now. What should we do? He'd be even worse to Feliks! He'd attack me too. But how? How did he know? We hadn't told anyone! How could he possibly know…?

"Oh Feliks." Carefull I wrapped my arms around him, only for him to wince. "Feliks. They hit you again." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Yeah." He whispered.

"Come on. Let me see it."

Slowly, he sat up. Removing his robe he showed the worst injure since this had started. Feliks entire shoulder was colored in a horrible mix of blue, yellow, green and purple. Just by his collarbone was a rather deep cut that he had tried to cover up with something that looked like a ripped shirt. Both the shoulder and the area around the collarbone was swollen and the ripped shirt was red with dried blood. I couldn't hold in the terrified gasp and I could feel the tears burning behind my eyes.

I didn't dare to say anything, in fear of starting to cry. Instead, I stood up and went to get a towel with water and some bandage to clean and properly tie up his wound. Still not saying anything I returned to Feliks and began cleaning the injure. It would probably leave a horrible scar. When I touched his collarbone he jumped and almost screamed in pain. He bit his lip but a small cry managed to escape his lips.

"Oh my god, Feliks! This is really bad! You have to go the hospital wing and look this up! What if you've broken something?"

"No, please! Not the hospital wing!"

"But Feliks…"

"Please!"

I went quiet again and began to treat his wound again. "Does your shoulder hurt much?" I asked after a while.

"Yeah. But not as much as my collarbone."

"You can move it, right?"

He nodded and moved his shoulder a little. He instantly flinched and had to bite his lip again to not scream. Big tears started to roll down his cheeks.

"I can't take it, Toris. I can't take it anymore."

* * *

Well…. AND LET'S SWITCH TO SPAMANO!

* * *

I walked with Francis and Gilbert from the classroom when Sofía came running.

"Toniiiiiii!"

"Hello Sofía!" I laughed and ruffled her hair as she threw her arms around me. "Are you alone today? No friends?"

I might have been wrong, but I think I saw a small spark of mischievousness glimmering in her eyes. "Actually, that's the reason I'm here. You know Lovi, ¿sí? He has problems with herbology, but he's too shy to ask someone to help him…." She looked encouragingly at me.

"So you want me to teach him?"

"¡Sí!" She might have said something along the lines of 'hermano idiota…' after, but that could have been my imagination too. Also, was that Francis and Gilbert snickering in the background?

"Well~of course I'll help Lovi~!"

"Gracias, hermano! Lovi will be sooo happy!"

"Oh yes, he'll be overjoyed.…" Mumbled Francis, making Gilbert's snickering escalade into one of his 'awesome laughs'.

* * *

"CHE COZZA? Sofía told you to tutor me?"

I inner mind scowled. He might be really cute, but he could scream. Loudly.

"Sí! She told me you had problems with herbology!"

"Like hell I have! I'm really good at herbology!" I raised an eyebrow. Lovino blushed. "W-well, I'm not bad. I-I mean, I'm kinda okay at it…."

"What's a puffapod?"

Like a fish, he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. "Okay, so maybe I have some problems with plants! But that doesn't mean I need tutoring!"

"But Lovi!" I winched. "It would be fun! And I could really help you!"

"My names is Lovino! And what do you mean by 'fun'? Like hell studying could be fun!"

"But plants are so interesting! Of course it can be fun!"

Lovi muttered something that sounded like 'oblivious idiot'. I'm not THAT oblivious! Sometimes I just choose to not read the atmosphere. Sometimes without the intentions of it, but well… So I decided to ignore his mumbling and instead grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the library.

* * *

"I don't understand it, bastardo!"

I had heard him say that sentence at least twice a minute for the past quarter now. But he was kinda cute when he was frustrated… Without thinking, I started giggling, making Lovi glare at me.

"Now what bastardo? Are you going to make fun of me?"

"Of course not Lovi! I just thought you looked so cute~!"

Lovi flushed bright red, like a tomato. "Wha-what? I'm not cute! Idiot!"

"Yes, you are!" I teased. "You look just like a tomate pequeña~!"

"Shut up bastardo!"

I laughed and patted his head. Which obviously was followed by a 'don't touch me!'. Then I got an idea that Gilbert would have called awesome, Francis would have called fantastique and everyone else would have called risky, irresponsible and flat out idiotical.

"Lovi, do you want to see some plants for real?" He looked confused. "I mean, do you want to see some plants in real life?"

"You planning something aren't you, ingannare?"

"Sí!" I smiled mischievously. "Can you sneak out of your dorm after dinner?"

Lovino snorted. "Of course. Don't underestimate me!"

* * *

I stood outside one of the greenhouses. First years aren't supposed to enter this greenhouse but who cares? I would just have to make sure Lovi didn't touch anything. Beside, I wasn't supposed to be here at this time either. Suddenly I heard steps behind me. Turning around, I saw Lovino walking over to me. I smiled brightly at him and put a finger over my mouth to signal to him to be quiet. Slowly, we walked over to the door to the greenhouse.

"Oi." Whispered Lovino. "Are you sure this is safe? Won't we get caught if we walk right through the door?"

"Of course not!"

"Did you answer my first or second question?"

"Both!"

He stared at me with a  _you're not serious_ -look _._ Until he realised I was serious. "Oh for fucks sake….." He mumbled. "You're either mad or just stupid."

I laughed quietly at him then unlocked the door with the alohomora spell. We sneaked in to the dark greenhouse.

"Lumos." I whispered. Instantly a small light spread from my wand and the plants became visible.

"Just make sure you don't touch anything." I whispered to the boy behind me. He just snorted in response.

"Oi, bastard. What's that plant?"

"Hm?" I looked to were Lovi pointed. "Oh, that's a fluxweed. They can be used in polyjuice potions."

"And that?"

"That's a spiky bush. You shouldn't stand so close to it Lovi. It can shoot spikes at you." He instantly took a step back. "Don't worry." I chuckled. "You'll learn to deal with those soon. They usually teach you about them in the first year. And you're here with me, so I can always protect you!"

"Sh-shut up, idiota! I don't need a knight in shining armour!" To prove his point, he took a few steps closer to the plant. Which was one of the most stupid things he could have done. I just managed to grab his arm and drag him towards me before the plant shot a spike. It missed Lovi's face with just a few centimeters and knocked over a flowerpot across the room. When it fell, it somehow managed to knock over a couple of other flowerpots next to it. They fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"Mierda." I cursed. Professor Wishworths office were rather close to this greenhouse. I mentally cursed myself for picking this greenhouse. She often slept in her office. Which meant that Lovi and I should probably run.

I grabbed Lovino's hand instead of his arm and ran out of the greenhouse. We ran over the castle grounds and hid behind the walls of the castle. Panting, I rested my left hand on my knee. The blood rushed in my ears and I felt dizzy. I had only managed to run a few hundred meters, and I already felt like fainting. Lovino tried to say something but I couldn't hear him. Slowly I sank down on the ground and rested against the wall. After what seemed like a hundred years, but probably was around two minutes, my heartbeat slowed down and breathing became easier. Lovino's voice finally reached my ears.

"Oi! Antonio! Can you-a hear me? Antonio! Fucking bastardo, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Lovi." I smiled calming at him. Then I realised. "Heh, you said my name."

Lovino blushed. "What's so special about that bastard?"

"You've only called me bastard or idiot before. It makes me happy you finally said my name."

"Whatever." He looked away, then back at me again. "Are you sure you're okay?" He blushed again. "I mean, it's not like I care. i just want to get out of here. I don't want to get caught."

I laughed. "Yeah, sure~!" I teased. "But sí, I'm fine. No need to worry about me!"

I tried to get up. Big mistake. Black spots immediately began dancing before my eyes and I had to grab Lovino's shoulder to not fall down again.

"Like hell you're-a fine! What's wrong with you anyways?"

"Nothing's wrong with me Lovi! I'm just tired that's all!"

He gave me a doubtful glare, but decided to not push the subject. Without a word, he grabbed my hand and began walked back to the dorms. He didn't let go of hand until we reached the Slytherin dorms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Well, hope you liked that~ I just wanted to pop up and say that Professor Wishworth is no-one. :p I just need a teacher. Since Neville's now headmaster, I needed a herbology teacher!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween everyone!
> 
> (Just so that you know, we'll have all four POVs in this chapter and everything happens around the same time, so some events are mentioned more than once, or from different persons POVs!)

 

* * *

 

Lithuania's Pov

* * *

The ghosts of Hogwarts burst out of the walls without a warning. They flew around, playing tricks on us students. One put his hand right through a girl's chest, making her scream loudly and everyone else laugh. Until another ghost came and did the same to those laughing! The ghosts flew through tables, popped out of statues and flew past fire just to make the flame blue.

Then suddenly all the ghost disappeared and all the lights went out. It was all dark and quiet for a few seconds. Then indoor fireworks exploded in dozens of colors and illuminated the hall. Everyone cheered and applauded. We all cheered even more when it, like last year, started to rain candy from the roof. Feliks laughed happily and, along with many other students, jumped up on the table in order to catch as much candy as possible.

After a while, to everyone's grief, the rain ended and the principal announced that two event's would be held. A dance, as well as a ghost tour around the school. None of the alternatives seemed appealing to me and Feliks, for various reasons. Instead, we quietly snuck back to the dorm, passing a couple of statues that walked around. They, along with bats, pumpkins and much more, made the Halloween Decoration of the school. We sat down in the dorm with all the candy Feliks had managed to catch. He had amazing reflexes and catching-skills when it came to candy! No one would come here in a while, since everyone was busy with celebrating Halloween.

So we ended up just sitting there for a while, chatting about everything and nothing and eating much more candy than what could be considered healthy. Though I must admit; big part of our 'everything and nothing' chatting was gossiping about who liked who, what the teachers actually thought about each other and talking about why McSnortsbottom was a horrible teacher. Maybe a bit mean, but she was horrible at her job! The only thing she could do was handing out detentions!

"I bet you a year's supply of chocolate frogs that Feliciano and Ludwig will be an item before the end of this year!"

"A year's supply?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I can bet you two!" He grinned.

"Are you really that sure?"

He patted my head. "Toris, darling. Face it. I have an eye for this, you don't. I can tell by the way they look at each other. Those two are like, so in love!"

"Well….Maybe you're right. But then tell me, since I'm so bad at this, who else will get together?"

"Let's see…. I can bet you the same amount of frogs on that Kiku will get together with that Hufflepuff guy, though that make take a little longer. I also predict Matthias with Lukas Bondevik, that's his name right, and Elizabeta with that Edelstein guy. Though Gilbert and Vash won't like that."

"Why? I mean, I get Gilbert, he likes Elizabeta, but why Vash? "

"Toris. You know I love you more than everything in this universe. But when it comes to things like this, you're the slowest person I know. No, wait you're not, since you figured out Gilbert likes Eliza. But Vash is totally crushing on Edelstein!"

I almost choked on the jelly bean I had in my mouth. "W-cough-what?"

Feliks rolled his eyes. "This is why I said you're slow. I'm a hundred percent sure he is. Unfortunately, Edelstein is as slow as you, so he obviously has no idea. Plus he likes Elizabeta. And you know, I still think that those fifth years are eloped lovers!"

I shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I wonder if they're okay."

"Probably." Then Feliks fell silent for a while. "You know…" He said after a while. "I kinda envy them. They can be together forever and don't need to worry about anyone tearing them apart."

"I'm not sure it's that simple…. But you do indeed have a point…." We feel silent again.

"Hey Toris?" Feliks asked after a while. "Do you…. After Hogwarts…. DoyouwanttolivetogetherafterHogwarts?"

"...Sorry, what?"

Feliks took a deep breath. "I said… Do you want to live together after Hogwarts?" At first I could only stare at him. Then smiled wider than I thought I could and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Of course I want to!"

* * *

China's Pov

* * *

"Hey Ivan?"

We were sitting in a cave, the third since we'd left Hogwarts. It was almost pitch black, the moon was the only source of light we had. We hadn't dared to light a fire. From the cave we could see a small muggle village. It wasn't that close, the cave was far up a hill. But the opening to the cave was in the direction of the village. A fire would easily have been seen. The moon provided enough light anyways.

I've always loved the light of the moon. It's gentle and warm, yet cold and powerful. Its sílvery rays casts peculiar shadows, that are terrifying yet beautiful and mysterious. I've always felt like the moon is an eye that watches but never judges. Ivan's hair gleamed like pure silver in the light and his purple eyes became even more prominent.

"Hm? What is it, sunflower?"

"What date is it today?"

Ivan paused, looking like he was counting the days in his mind. "It should be the 31st."

"So at this very moment, they are at the Halloween party, aren't they?" I didn't have to tell him whom I meant by 'they'. A shadow flew over Ivan's eyes. "Da." He said after a few moments.

"I wonder what they are doing. Yong Soo is probably trying to scare everyone, but failing every time. Lien is probably the only one who could actually succeed with that, if she tried. " I laughed, but I could hear myself that there were no happiness in it. "Kasen is probably in his dorm, ignoring the rest. He's never been much for these parties. I hope he's not all alone though. Maybe he's with his friend from India." I knew I was rambling, but I couldn't help it. I did everything I could to not cry. Even though I could feel those stupid tears burning behind my eyes, and even though I could hear my voice thickening and shaking, I refused to cry. "Mei is his exact opposite. She loves Halloween so much. Sh-she's probably telling ghost stories with her friends and she probably eats w-way too much candy." I cursed the quiet sob that escaped my lips. "A-and….And Kiku….."

I lost the battle against my tears. Ivan quietly pulled me into a hug and stroke my over my hair. I don't know for how long we stayed like that. It could have been an hour. It could have been ten minutes. Ivan began humming quietly. I didn't know the song, but it was beautiful. Somehow, it reminded me of a river. It flowed peacefully, calming and gentle. My sobbing died down, and soon I was just lying there against Ivan's chest, listening to his humming.

"Do you remember the last Halloween party?" He suddenly asked.

I smiled slightly. "Yeah. Professor Longbottom had managed to get a band of magical creatures. They arranged a dance in the Great Hall after the dinner, and suddenly the flying pumpkins exploded and it rained candy."

"Da." Ivan smiled too. "I remember I sat there, looking at those who danced. The only one who wanted to dance with me was Natalia and I didn't want to dance with here, so I sat alone. You danced with your sisters. You looked so happy. At that time, we were still just friends, but I really wanted to ask you to dance with me." He looked up at the dark sky. "I really wish I had."

We sat in silence for a few moments. Then I smiled. "Then why don't you ask me now?"

Ivan looked like he was had expected it, but still became surprised when I actually said it. His face cracked up in that cute boyish smile. He rose from his seat and held out his hand. "May I have this dance? My lady." He teasingly added.

"Ivan! I'm not a girl, aru! But yes, you may."

We both smiled as Ivan gently led me in a slow dance, starting to hum the soft song again.

* * *

Spain's Pov

* * *

"Psst, Tonio!"

"What is it, Francis?"

"Well….. Those walking statues are very funny and all….." An unmistakably mischievous smirk creeped on my friends face.

"But they could be much more entertaining, ¿sí?" I finished for him.

"Oui, mon cher, that's exactly what I meant! But I think we should find Gilbert first."

Five minutes later we finally spotted out albino friend, talking to -more like teasing, his brother. With said brother was also the little japanese boy -Kiku think, Heracles from Hufflepuff and Feliciano and Lovi. Maybe…..

"Hey Francis?"

"Yes?"

"How about we get Lovi join us?"

"Mon cher, you know how I don't want to get in the way of l'amour….."

"Mierda, Francis, it's lot like that!"

He glared at me. "Don't interrupt me or I'll make Gilbert join me and sing 'I won't say I'm in love'. Now, as I was about to say, are sure it's a good idea? What if he tell a teacher? Or messes up for us?"

"He won't. Come on, Francis! Por favor…..?"

A long sigh was heard. Then Francis smirked again. "Fine. But…..If there's a prize for rotten judgement~..."

"Francis…...Don't you dare…."

He ignored me and continued to dance towards Gilbert, Lovi and the others. "I guess I've already won that. No man is worth the aggravation. That's ancient history, been there, done that!"

"FRANCIS!"

He laughed and grabbed a cursing italian and a slightly confused, yet smirking, prussian and dragged them away from the confused group. I shook my head, but couldn't help but smile as I jogged past the group to catch up with Francis.

When we were out of earshot, we explained our plan to Gilbert and Lovi. My albino friend immediately shouted 'AWESOME!' and Lovi just shrugged and said 'whatever'. But he failed to suppress the smirk that creeped up on his face.

Quietly, we hid in the shadow behind the wall, where we could stand without being found out too fast, but still could see the corridor where most statues walked around. I think it was about ten of them.

Francis waved his wand and one of the statues began dancing. And singing 'I won't say I'm in love'. I smacked Francis head and made the statue sing the Titanic theme song instead, together with another statue. The frenchman snickered and cast a spell on another statue, making it cast tickling charms on bypassing students.

Gilbert then decided that it would be funny if we checked if the statues could make backflips. Actually, they could! Well, sort of. Laughing, I made one of the statues jump around, throwing candy and flowers, while another did the robot dance.  
By now, a couple of students had stopped and looked at the statues. Gilbert suddenly spotted Roderich Edelstein and the grin that appeared on my albino friend's face clearly resembled the one of the cat from Alice in Wonderland. One of the dancing statues grabbed the austrian boy and began dancing with him. Everyone in the corridor was now laughing like maniacs. Elizabeta, who had been walking with Roderich, had tears in her eyes from laughing. Even the austrians second companion, a blond Gryffindor boy, seemed amused, watching his tomato red friend struggling to get free from the dancing statue.

A loud cough from behind stopped our laughter. "Oups….." Laughed Francis nervously and Gilbert swallowed. Lovi mumbled something and I laughed like Francis.

"So it's you again…" McSnortsbottom snorted. No, that wasn't a bad pun. Okay, fine it was. But she still snorted! "But I see you've dragged another one into your mess. You're Lovino Vargas, correct?"

Again, Lovi just mumbled something. He quietly slipped in behind me, as if to hid from the professor.

"You will all get detention for this! I'll expect to see you all at me office….." Professor McSnortsbottom continued but a quiet whisper from behind me drew away my attention. Behind the professor, another statue began moving. I smiled slightly. So that was why Lovi had hid behind me! I tried to focus my eyes on the rambling professor and not the statue that slowly walked up behind her.

"...very disappointed. Are you even listening Carriedo? You must understand that what I tell you is very important, because…"

We never heard why McSnortsbottom's lectures were so important (she probably did have any legit reason anyway) because the statute Lovino had hexed grabbed her and lifted her high up in the air. Laughing as hard as we had just seconds ago, we quickly got up and ran away as fast as we could (I prayed that my body wouldn't betray me) from the screaming professor.

"Told you he was good!" I whisper-grinned to Francis. He grinned back and made the thumb up sign, first to me and then to Lovi. The later actually smiled widely back. All of our smile wider as we heard McSnortsbottom screaming after us.

"BEILSCHMIDT! BONNEFOY! CARRIEDO! VARGAS!"

* * *

Germany's Pov

* * *

"So, bastards, what do we do now?"

Lovino, who obviously had been the one to ask the question, Feli, Kiku, Heracles and I were standing just outside the Great Hall. Feliciano was still munching on his last chocolate bar. Actually, he hadn't managed to catch that much candy. But all our upperclassmen had felt pity for him, and given him part of their candy. Which had resulted in him pretty much drowning in chocolate, lollipops, jelly beans and various other sweets.

"I want to dance with Luddy!" Exclaimed Feli and threw his arm around me. As per usual, it took about half a second for my face to heat up. Stupid face, giving away exactly what I felt! Lovino glared at me, I'm not even sure why, Kiku turned away to hide the fact that he was smiling and Heracles giggled quietly. Suddenly, I heard an, unfortunately, well known and very obnoxious laugh.

"Kesesese! Why are you blushing, Luddy? Could it be…..because Feli is hugging you~?"

"Shut up!"

"You didn't deny it~!" Gilbert laughed again and patted my head. "Don't worry, brother. I fully approve! Feli and you would be so cute together~!"

By now, both Heracles and Kiku were shaking while trying to contain their laughter and even though Lovino was still glaring at me, he was clearly smirking. I refused to look at Feli.

A loud shout was heard in the corridor and Francis came running, chased by a surprisingly red Antonio. Looks like I wasn't the only one getting teased! Francis, who was humming some song, raced up to us and grabbed Lovino and Gilbert and ran away. Antonio jogged past us and smiled a little, before following his the frenchman, my brother and a loudly cursing italian. We must have looked quite funny, just standing there staring after the quartet.

"Come on, Ludwig, can't we dance? Please?" Begged Feliciano.

"Um….Yeah, I guess we can…." I looked over at Heracles and Kiku, who smiling shook their heads.

"We want to go on the ghost tour." Kiku said.

"Okay. I guess we'll split up then. Have fun!" Then Feli dragged me away towards the dance.

There were rather many couples on the floor, but also a couple of smaller groups dancing together.

"You know, I'm not very good at dancing." I mumbled.

"That doesn't matter!" Feli smiled. "Look, no one here cares about dancing correct or beautiful! They are just dancing to have fun!" He was right. People laughed and danced just like they felt. Smiling, I grabbed Feli's hands and we began dancing like that, just how we felt. We both laughed when we took a step wrong and almost tripped. All the time we danced, the butterflies in my stomach flew around like crazy. But for some reason, I didn't really mind. I was happy, dancing here with Feliciano and I ignored everything else. Those questions that threatened to jump out and bother me, kept surprisingly calm. No, it was more like they didn't matter. Were I gay, would people judge me if I were, would my family care? None of those questions, along with many others, like if I actually would have a chance on Feli, mattered.

We just danced like that, smiling at each other, for I don't know how long. We probably stopped dancing at some point and went to find Kiku and Heracles and then went back to our dorms, but I don't remember that. In my memory, we just danced like that forever.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys... PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

 

Toris POV

"Are you sure we won't get in trouble?"

Feliks laughed a little. "Totally sure! Stop worrying, Toris! Beside, this should be the safest place for us right now."

Of course he was right. Tim had no way of knowing we were here, in the astronomy tower. Perhaps we were actually safe here, for now at least.

"Plus," Feliks continued. "It's beautiful up here."

"Indeed it is." I responded, smiling.

No one could deny it. It wasn't even that late, just after dinner, but since it was november the 30th it was pitch black outside. The moon and the stars shone beautifully down on us. I just loved Hogwarts so much at night. The lights from the castle, the night sky and the silence made the scenario really pretty. If I had been a better artist, I would have painted what I saw in the exact moment here and sell it for a great amount of money.

"I wish this year could end soon." Feliks said. "Then we wouldn't have to see Tim again. It's his last year you know, so after this year, we'll be totally free from him!"

He looked really hopeful saying that, but…. "What if...someone else starts to bully us instead?"

"I don't think so. It's like, Tim everyone's afraid of, that's why they act like they do. As soon as he's gone, this hell with stop. And you know, everyone else in his gang will like, graduate this year too."

"Not that Slytherin girl. She's in our year."

"That doesn't matter. Toris, none of them are bad people. They are just in bad company. And they probably have their own problems, with drinking parents or something."

"That's not excuse! I don't understand how you can talk about people who hurt you like that!"

"Toris, I just try to understand them. I'm not saying that having problems at home or whatever is an excuse for being mean to people. But do try to understand them. I don't think any human is born evil, not even Tim. On the inside, they are all kind. It's the circumstances that makes them do evil things. I'm not saying that neither you nor I should forgive them for what they've done, but I'm saying that you should try to look past their surface, the mask they put up, and realise that they too are people."

I couldn't answer. What could I possibly have said? I must have stared at him for quite a while, because Feliks serious expression was suddenly replaced with a big grin.

"Toris, you look like, so stupid! You should totally see your face right now!"

Laughing, I pulled him into a hug. "You're probably the bravest, most clever person I know." I mumbled into his hair.

"Why?"

"Because you have the courage to accept and understand even those who treats you bad. And you're clever enough to figure out how they feel."

Now it was Feliks turn to laugh. "And I thought  _I_  sounded cheesy before!"

I joined him in his laughter, but we both stopped abruptly when we heard a creak from the staircase, followed by a the sound of fabric being torn. Sitting in complete silence, we tried to make out more noises. Nothing.

"Who's there?" Feliks asked the staircase. I mean the person that probably stood there. No one answered. Slowly, I got up and walked over to the stairs. I looked down on them…. But saw nothing.

No, wait. Something…. I walked down a few stairs and picked up a tiny piece of fabric. A piece of a Ravenclaw robe to be exact.

* * *

BANG!

I was pushed roughly into the stonewall. My head hit the it hard and black spots danced before my eyes. Somewhere, I think I heard someone say something. Or was the person laughing?

A kick hit me in the ribs. More black spots danced as I tried to regain my lost breath. Another kick. And another. My head hit the wall again and now everything went black. Everything was foggy, I was still conscious, but just barely.

Then I heard a loud shout from...somewhere. My dizzy brain couldn't detect from which direction the shout had come from. Someone hissed something, probably a swearword. Steps were heard from two directions. One running away from me, the other running towards me.

Someone called my name. The voice was familiar, gentle and sweet. Who were the person talking to me? Groaning, I opened my eyes. And of course. Beside me sat Feliks, looking more than furious.

"Hi Feliks." Was all I managed to choke out.

"Toris! Oh my god, are you okay? Those bastards have never physically hurt you like that before! Can you move? Does your head hurt? Can you hear even me?"

"Calm down, I -ouch, Feliks let go of my shoulder-, I can't keep up with what you're saying. You're talking too fast." Groaning again, I slowly sat up. "Yes, I can move. Somewhat." I added with a hiss after trying to move my left arm. Keyword; trying. It wouldn't move. As soon as I tried to, a burning pain exploded in my arm and spread to my shoulder and collarbone. Feliks noticed immediately. Carefully, he examined my arm.

"It's broken." He stated, swallowing as if trying to hold back tears. "We have to get you to the hospital wing."

"That's what I told you last time…" I mumbled.

"My collar bone wasn't broken! Toris you really h-have to go get y-your arm ch-che…." He broke down sobbing.

"Shh, don't cry…" I softly rubbed his back with my right arm as he rested his forehead on my chest. "Don't worry Feliks, it's fine. It's going to be okay."

_I'm not going to cry._ I told myself. I was going to be the strong one this time. But those things are easier said than done. Because it wasn't going to be okay. My words were nothing but lies. And right now, Feliks picture of Tim and the others being kind was close to impossible to believe in.

* * *

_Dear Toris._

_I hope you're well and that everything is fine with Eduard and Feliks too. Are you doing well in school? Oh what a silly question, I know you do! You're going to be a fantastic wizard, dear….._

And mom continued in normal mother fashion. Are you eating well? (Does candy count?) Are your classmates nice to you? (No, but I'm not planning on telling you about it.) Is there anything you want me to send to you? (Something that would keep bullies and idiots away from me maybe?). You know, the usual stuff. Then there were also a short letter from my other brother, Raivis. Reading his letters always made me smile. He was only ten years old, and his childish happiness always shone from the letters. Mom thought it was unnecessary to send two different owls when both her sons went to Hogwarts, so there were also a letter for…

"Hello Toris! Has mom send a letter again?"

"You make it sound like that was something bad, Eduard!" I replied, laughing. Thank God for magic and the nurses at the hostital wing! Making the nurses belive me when I'd said I'd fallen from the stair was a piece of cake, but fooling my brother would have been an entirely different matter!

"Of course." He sarcastically answered, smiling slightly. "Did she send me one too?"

"You know she did."

"True." He said, smiling a little brighter, and reached for the letter I handed him.

"Raivis wrote a part too."

"Oh, I see…." My brother mumbled, looking through the letter. His reaction surprised me. Usually, he'd at least smile a little. To be honest, Eduard had been acting a little weird in the past few days. A little out of character, if you know what I mean. Then again, I didn't get to see him that often, since he usually hid in his dorm to study. But I still felt like something was wrong.

"Is there something bothering you, Eduard?"

"Hm?" Eduard looked up from the letter. "No, I'm fine. I've just stayed up studying a bit too late the latest days." He laughed, scrathing the back of his head awkwardly. "You know how I can be."

"Geez, Eduard! You know you don't have to do that! You're probably the smartest guy in school as it is! Promise me that you'll go to sleep earlier today?"

"Aye sir!" He replied playfully.

We exited the chilly Owler Tower. The stairs were already slippery from the thin, thin layer of ice on them.

Eduard and I parted when we reached the school. The thought of something bothering my brother wouldn't leave my mind. He had lied to me, I was sure about that. Which meant something was incredibly wrong, as Eduard was usually one who always told the truth.

Maybe someone was being mean to him? Oh dear lord, what if Tim had been bullying him too, as he was my brother? I had to ask Eduard later. There were no way I would let Tim hurt my brother!

* * *

"What do you think our lives will look like after Hogwarts?"

We were up in the astronomy tower again. This tower really was the best place on Hogwarts. So peacefull and quiet. Though at first, I had been a bit reluctant to go here again. The robe part I had found almost a week ago could have been Tims. Though it didn't have to be. I had no way of knowing whom the robe had belonged to. Maybe it belonged to a normal Ravenclaw student who had gone to the astronomy tower to watch the stars. Maybe they had seen us and didn't feel like interrupting, but then got stuck when they were to leave. I truly hoped that was the case.

"That's a good question." I replied. "What do you think?."

Feliks smiled brightly. "We could live on the countryside. Adopt two cute kids and buy a huge, old house to live in!"

"We should buy horses too!" I said, smiling.

"Oh my god, yes! We could have a farm!"

"Do you mean we should breed horses?"

Feliks shrugged. "Maybe. Like, we don't' have to decide now, but living on a farm would be awesome!"

Smiling, I pulled him into a hug. "Yeah." I whispered into his hair.

We sat like that for who know's how long, talking about our future, how we would live, what we'd work with, anything. Some things more serious than other. Feliks even tried to figure out what names the children we'd adopt would have! It might sound ridiculous and unrealistic, thinking about things like that now. But his eyes were shining so bright when he talked about it. He smiled in a way I hadn't seen him smile for a long while. He gesticulated enthusiastic and the happiness in his voice was simply indescribable.

"Maybe I can wear dresses sometimes too. I like, can't do it now I mean. With Tim and all that. If we have a daughter, I could go shopping with her! And then, you'd like, escape that." He joked.

"Oh thank god!" I responded playfully. Not that I didn't like go shopping with Feliks. But he could take quite some time in stores sometimes.

When we'd stopped laughing, a comfortable silence settled over the tower. The view from here was beautiful, as always. The stars gleamed like gold and the moon shone like silver. But somewhere, far, far away by the horisont, dark clouds were creeping up on the sky. It was going to rain tonight, that was for sure. At least the tower had a roof. Plus, rain wasn't that bad. I actually found the sound quite calming and I knew Feliks did too. But I didn't like the rain clouds. They always seemed so threatening.

* * *

A few days passed. Nothing changed. Classes, bullying, classes, bullying. The only place were we felt safe was the astronomy tower.

We sat there again, talking about anything and nothing. I always loved to talk like that with Feliks. Because it never felt forced, no matter what we talked about. And we could just sit there too, not saying a single word. Those moments where so peaceful and filled with love.

And it was in one of those moments they walked in. We were sitting looking out on the castle, the forest, the horisont and beyond that. Feliks had his head on my shoulder. Our fingers were intertwined. We had our backs towards the stair and never heard them. Until he spoke up.

"So he was right after all. This  _is_ where you're hiding."

We jumped up from our positions and spun around. Tim, Caleb, that Slytherin girl and the two boys from Ravenclaw stood by the stair, Tim and the girl leaning casually against the railing.

"H-how...why...?" Feliks stammered.

"Look at him. He's so scared he can't even speak!" The girl said, smirking evilly. I saw Tim glaring a little at her. He clearly didn't like the way she tried to steal the scene.

"How did you know we were here?" I asked, trying to draw the attention away from Feliks. "Who's 'he'?"

"You haven't guessed that yet?" Tim said, smirking ever so slighly. He nodded towards one of the Ravenclaw boys, who quickly ran down the stairs. The boy returned in a few seconds, the person Tim had been talking about had obviously been standing just below the stairs. The brown haired Ravenclaw dragged the other person up to us.

I could feel all the colors leaving my face and I felt like I could throw up any minute. No... wasn't possible...

"Oh yes!" Tim laughed. The person who told us where you were was no one other than your own little brother!"

Eduard looked at me with sad, pleading eyes. "I'm so sorry Toris." He whispered. I looked away, down on the floor and refused to meet his gaze.

Feliks seemed to be shocked as well, as he just stared at Eduard, face whiter than snow. He didn't seem to know what to think, believe or do. But now it seemed kind of obvious to me. Why Eduard had been acting strange. Why he'd lied. The answer was right in front of me. He stood there, together with the people that bullied us, and the right arm of his Ravenclaw robe had a hole in it. Why hadn't I seen it before, at the Owler tower a few days ago?

_Because I had refused to._

What happened after that moment was a big blurr. I don't know who drew their wand first, who shot the first spell. Suddenly, we were caught up in some kind of fight, with me and Feliks against Tim, his gang and...and...my brother. My mind didn't quite follow the different persons movements. It felt like half of my brain was somewhere else. What was even happening? Were we fighting? Why? And Eduard….Why were he standing on Tim's side? Half of my brain could answer all those questions. But the other half, the one who had asked, refused to accept the answers.

The girl screamed and dropped her wand, hit by one of Feliks spells. In return, Tim directed his next spell towards Feliks. He moved aside to avoid it, but it still hit his left arm. Feliks hissed in pain, but blocked the next attack with ease and shot back a spell towards the group.

It was hell. Why did this have to happen? Everything was just a big mess. And why had no teachers heard us? We couldn't stop this fight by ourselves! And I couldn't leave Feliks to find someone either.  
I took a deep breath. It was going to be fine, I told myself. Soon, someone will hear us and come to your rescue. Just hold on for a little longer. Just a little longer.

Then a spell hit me in the stomach and sent me flying across the tower-room. I must have screamed when I hit the wall, but I didn't hear it. The pain in my back and head shut out everything. When my senses returned, Tim stood a few steps away from me, raising his wand.

"STOP!" A voice screamed from behind the tall Ravenclaw. "Stop it Tim! This is too much! Please, Tim!"

Tim turned to my brother, who paled in an instant. "What did you say?" He hissed.

"I-I….I told you to stop! Don't hurt him anymore Tim!" Eduard screamed back.

Tim raised his wand again, but this time towards my brother. A ray of light shot out of the wand and flew towards my brother.

But it never hit Eduard. He was pushed aside in the last second.

I don't know why he chosed to save Eduard. Saved the one who had betrayed him. But he did. And the spell hit him instead of my brother. Time stopped as I couldn't do anything but watch the person I loved the most in the world fly towards the railing of the tower. All sounds were blocked out. I screamed something, but I couldn't hear what.

The railing wasn't high enough. And Tim's spell had been too powerful. Even though I knew I could never reached him, still on the floor after Tim's attack, I reached out my hand.

Our eyes met for the last time. The world was still in slow motion. He smiled, in the most loving, caring and heartbreaking way. Then he closed his eyes. And the world went on full speed again. He fell. The sounds returned. And I could hear what I had been screaming all this time.

"FELIKS!"


	11. Chapter 11

_Lithuanias Pov_

* * *

I can't remember what happened after that. Everything went black. I woke up the morning after in a room I recognised but didn't knew why.

I didn't know were I was. What had happened? Where were Feliks?

A woman entered the room. Her clothes indicated that she was some kind of nurse. Did that mean I was in a hospital? But why?

"Hello, Toris." The nurse said kindly. "How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?" I asked. "And what happened to me? Where's Feliks?"

The nurse paled. "You're in the hospital wing, here at Hogwarts. You...you were knocked out. Do you remember who you are? Does your head hurt?"

"Yes, of course I do! I know exactly who I am!" I responded irritated. "And yes my head hurts. Like hell, if you must know. But you didn't answer my third question. Where is Feliks?"

The nurse seemed to pale even more. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry….."

* * *

It feels like your heart is being ripped out of you chest.

It feels like someone just shot you with a thousand bullets.

It feels like you're being burned alive.

Or drowned.

It feels like you're being stabbed with burning swords.

It feels like all those things, at the same time, with thousand times the pain.

And yet, it feels like nothing. Like the world is gone. Like nothing matters.

The pain is everything and nothing.

The pain when you lose the one you love the most.

It's not describable.

* * *

I was alone in our dorms. They felt horribly empty. The rest of the school were in the Great Hall, listening to someone telling them about…..about…..About yesterday.

The school had contacted my parents. They would come and bring me home soon. I had no idea about what would happen to Eduard. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. And I wasn't sure what I'd do when I saw him. If I even wanted to see him.

My head, my arms, my legs, my entire body. Everything hurt. And so did my heart.  
I sat in my bed, hiding under a thick red blanket. I was freezing, for no reason at all. I stared out in the room. It looked strange. Empty. Cold. And soulless. It felt like a thick fog lay over the room, blocking out all the light and happiness in it.

Slowly, I got up and started to pack my things, mechanicaly, almost like a robot. Clothes first. Then books and other things for school. Then everything else. Finally, I reached for the tiny box I kept hidden under my bed. I had three things in it. A dairy, a necklace I'd gotten from my mother when I left for Hogwarts and bracelet that….that Feliks made me in third year. It didn't fit anymore. But I still kept it.

I glanced over to his bed. It was still a bit messy, things lying on the floor beside it and the sheets a bit ruffled. Just like always. Like he could just walk in any second.

_Hey, Toris! You're like, way to slow! Hurry up!_

Only that he would never do that.

I walked over to the bed and lay down on it. The sheets still carried his scent. Burying my face in his pillow, I felt something beneath it. A hard object, with sharp edges. I moved the pillow, but it was nothing there. And nothing under the mattress. Maybe it had just been my imagination. But then I accidentally knocked the pillow down from the bed. It landed on the floor with a loud 'thud'. Not a very pillow like sound. I picked it up and examined it. And look, there were an opening in it! Carefully closed with three small buttons and not visible unless you looked close enough or felt it. I opened it and….a book. Not just any book, I realised. A diary. Without thinking, I opened the book on a random page.

_5th of September_

_Eliza gave me new tips of how to style my hair in a super fabulous way! She's totally bae! I gave her some make-up advice in return. And color advice! She looks totally fabulous in dark green! Any green really! Toris would look amazing in green too! It would make his eyes even prettier! Nothing else happened today. I was fabulous, the teacher were not, ever class was boring and Toris was cute as always~ Geez, he's so adorable! Especially when he gets lost in thoughts. Even if it's kinda rude._

Smiling, I flipped a few pages, still without thinking.

_21st of September_

_I don't know how to write this. Tim…..Tim and the others….they….. Argh, how do I write this? I'll just go straight to the point. They hit me. Again. But today was so much worse. It hurts to even write about it. But Toris saved me! He saved me! But now that he knows…. What will Tim do to him? I don't want him to get hurt. I won't allow it! I don't care what they do to me, but I will never let them hurt Toris!_

The more I read, the more it hurt. The more I read, the darker the entries became. I smiled when one certain entry. Feliks hadn't bothered writing a date, but it didn't matter. I knew fully well when the event had occurred.

_YOU CAN NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED TODAY! TORIS KISSED ME! KISSED ME! ON THE LIPS! NO LOVE POTIONS INVOLVED OR ANYTHING! HE KISSED ME ON HIS OWN WILL! Oh and two fifth years ran away from Hogwarts. BUT TORIS KISSED ME AND THAT'S LIKE ALL THAT MATTERS RIGHT NOW! OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!_

More entries about Tim. A couple about the tower. So many about him being bullied. A tear fell from my chin and hit the paper. He had hidden so many injuries from me. He wrote about incidents he'd never told me about. Why? Why hadn't he told me? I got the answer on the next page. The very last page.

_13th of December_

_Toris and I are going to the astronomy tower today again! I really love that place! I think Toris does too. I….I think I should tell him about those incidents I wrote about earlier. Yes, I know. I still haven't told him. But….I just don't want him to be sad. I hate it when he's sad! I wish he could smile more. He rarely smile these days. Then again, I guess I'm the same. At least it's only half a year left._

_I should tell him, right? He'll get mad, of course. Then he'll probably cry. And hug me. But I feel horrible for hiding things from him. Toris means so much to me. I love him. More than anything. I love him so much. I just want to make him happy. Why is life so cruel? Why can't I just have a normal, nice life, where nobody cares about the way I dress? Where no one cares if I paint my nails. And where no one cares about the fact that I love Toris._

_I have to go. First dinner, then the tower. Have I ever mentioned I love that tower? It's so nice to have a safe place. Where I can be alone with Toris. Okay I should really go now. Toris is waiting for me outside. I'm lucky to have someone like him. I know you know, but I love him!_

_See you!_

I could barely read the last sentence for my tears. I clutched the dairy to my chest tightly, shaking from my tears. Why? Why? WHY?

I don't know how long it took for me to stop crying. Though I never really did. It felt like I would be crying on the inside forever. I looked at the dairy. Should I put it back? Then my eyes fell on the box on my suitcase. Oh. What if…. I looked at the clock on the wall. I had time.

* * *

The lake was beautiful, as always. Black, deep and peaceful. It was cold outside, but not a single ice flow was visible, not even by the shore. I held the box tight to my chest. In it was now Feliks dairy, one of his hairpins, and his favorite necklace, the one with a small corn poppy, his favourite flower. After some hesitation, I had let the bracelet stay in the box. How should I do this? Should I say something?

"Feliks…. I… I don't know what to say to you. I...I wish I wouldn't need to do this. Why are you...g-gone? I-I want you back. You gave my life a meaning, Feliks. You were my sunshine, my happiness, my everything. My life. You were always there for me. I can never describe in words what you meant to me. A-a life without you…..It's pointless. You were everything I ever wanted. I love you Feliks. More than anything. I love you."

I stared out over the lake. Then I lifted my arm and threw the box. It flew through the air, landed far out in the water with a big splash and sank into the deep, black lake.

* * *

_Spain's Pov_

* * *

I don't think anyone knew what had really happened. We were called to an assemble in the Great Hall in the morning. As soon as we entered the Hall, we noticed that something was wrong. Maybe it was the ghosts, floating around slowly, heads low. Perhaps it was candles, glowing in the dark hall. Or maybe it was the professors, all dressed in black. I think it was all that and much more. Hogwarts was crying.

I spotted Francis and Gilbert, both walking with the rest of their houses. They both looked quiet and serious, completely different from their usual selves.

Professor Longbottom rose from his seat and slowly walked over to the podium.

"Dear students." Professor Longbottom took a deep, shaking breath. He looked like he didn't know what to say. Or how to say it. "I am very sorry to tell you this." A new pause. "Last night, a horrible incident occurred. And we lost one of our students. Fifth year Gryffindor student Feliks Łukasiewicz is no longer with us."

The Hall fell silent for a split second. Then a scream was heard from the Gryffindor table and complete chaos broke out in the Hall. All questions the students tried to ask blended together to a sound similar to thunder. It was impossible to hear anything.

"SILENCE!"

And the Hall fell silent again. The only sound heard were the quiet sobs coming from the Gryffindor table. The headmaster took a deep breath and continued his speech in a calm voice. He didn't tell us exactly what had happened. A fight had started up in the astronomy tower and Łukasiewicz had been hit by a very powerful spell. It had caused him to fly over the railing to the tower, to a certain death. All students involved in the incident were on their way from Hogwarts, or would be in a few hours.

I hadn't known Łukasiewicz in person. Eliza, Gilbert's not-at-all-crush, had been rather fond of the older Gryffindor and had told me a bit about him. Aside from that, we had traded gossip about other students a couple of times. Don't ask me from where he got his information, but Łukasiewicz always had interesting information to offer. I felt horribly sorry for his friends and family. What would I do if anything happend to one of my own loved once?

Professor Longbottom had reached the end of his speech. He said that anyone could come speak to any of the professors if they needed to and no classes would be held today. The last part earned him a few, very quiet, 'Hooray'. Which in turn earned the onced who'd said it an angry 'Shut up, you idiot! Don't you have any respect?' and an equally angry elbow in the side from the people next to them. A ceremony would also be held, but not until tomorrow. When we finally were dismissed, it was a quiet, sad school that left the Hall.

* * *

"So….What do we do now?" I asked. Francis, Gilbert, Lovino and I were in the library, bored to death. After that statue prank at Halloween, Lovino started to hang out with us more and more. I know Francis and Gilbert had found it somewhat annoying to have the foul mouthed first year hanging around us, but since he had proven to be a good prankster, they seemed to have accepted him. I'd even go as far as to say that treated him like a little brother from time to time.

"We can't prank someone today, that would be disrespectful." Francis mumbled, face down in the table.

"So how do we break the rules without being disrespectful?" Gilbert asked.

Lovi snorted. "Do you always break the rules?" That earned him confused looks from three different directions. "Never mind." He growled. "Of course you do."

"What about the la-"

"LOOK!" Someone suddenly shouted."IT'S SNOWING!"

"Shut up Matthias." Was heard from heard from somewhere next to the tall boy who'd just screamed, but neither him nor anyone else seemed to care. Everyone quickly left their tables and books and gathered around the windows. And for once, saying 'it's snowing' wasn't an understatement! Usually, that phrase meant 'there's one single snowflake guys! A whole snowflake!'. But now, it was truly snowing! It was almost impossible to see outside for all the snow twirling in the air.

I turned to my friends. "I think I know what to do, mis amigos. But we should probably wait until there's more snow on the ground than in the air."

* * *

"Take that!" Lovino shouted and threw a snowball in my direction. Unfortunate for him, the snowball was too loose since it was made of newly fallen snow. It split before even reaching me.

"Too ba-UMPF!" Gilbert snuck up from behind and pressed a handful cold snow in my face. Brushing it of, I heard Francis and Lovi laughing. Both their laughs quickly turned into screams as Gilbert and I attacked them.

We fought for I don't know how long. Snow flew through the air, sometimes hitting it's target, sometimes not. After a while, Gilbert and Francis decided to team up, leading to me and Lovi teaming up as well. Gilbert screamed like a little girl when Lovi bumped snow inside his robe. If you were to ask him, he'd say it had been a manly scream. But it was far from that. Despise being rather mean to each other, we had so much fun! Even Francis laughed when I pushed him into a big pile of snow, making him look like a, somewhat ugly, snowman.  
A tiny voice in the back of my head told me to stop, take it easy. I told it to shut up. Perhaps I shouldn't have.

Because all of sudden my legs couldn't carry me any longer and I fell head-first down in the snow. I heard the others calling my name and someone shook my shoulder. But I couldn't move or respond. Like many times before, the world faded into a black nothing and I couldn't do anything about it.

* * *

_My head hurts._ It felt like someone hit me with rocks from inside my brain. Carefully, I tried to open my eyes, only to quickly shut them again. There were way too much light in this room! Finally, I managed to open my eyes.

Of course. The hospital wing. And…

"YOU GODDAMN BASTARDO!"

"Hola, Lovino…"

"DON'T 'HOLA' ME BASTARDO! YOU…."

"Calm down, Lovino." Francis put a hand on the furious italian's shoulder. "Don't scream at him, s'il vous plaît."

"Stop the french, bastard." Lovino snapped, but calmed down a little.

"You've got some serious explanation though, mon ami." Francis turned to me.

"Francis is right, Antonio." Gilbert said to my left, unusually serious. "This has been going on for far too long now. We demand an explanation."

"..."

"Antonio."

"...Fine." I took a deep breath. Might as well go straight to the point. "Looks like I've gotten myself a bit of a heart disease." I smiled weakly at them.

They fell silent, staring at me in a horrified way. Neither of them seemed to know how to react. Well, I guess that was understandable. "Listen, amigos. It's okay, I'm not dying or any-" Lovino stopped me mid sentence and hugged me. Yes. Lovino Vargas hugged me.

"Bastard." He mumbled. "You better not be fucking dying, you hear that you idiot? Don't lie!"

Laughing I hugged back. "Si, I promise. I'm not dying."

It was quiet again for a few moments, until Gilbert shouted "GROUP HUG!" And he and Francis more or less attacked me and Lovino. Lovino shouted something in italian, but I just couldn't help but laugh at them all. I had the best friends in the world.

* * *

The nurses forced me to stay the night at the hospital wing. I hate it at night. No one else were there, so I was all alone in the quiet room. Boring, creepy and lonely.

"Salut, mon ami."

"Francis! Don't scare me like that!"

A quiet laugh was heard. Francis stepped out from the shadow, though not as dramatic as he probably wished for it to be. The effect was somewhat destroyed by the fact that he tripped when stepping out.

"I thought I'd keep you company for a while. Must be lonely here."

"Have I ever told you I love you?"

"When I gave you half of the chocolate my mother send me, yes. But if I'm not mistaken, there's someone else occupying that spot in your heart now, am I right?"

"What do you mean?"

"...What am I supposed to do with you?" He sighed dramatically. "Lovino. That's what I'm talking about."

"Francis, we've had this discussion before. There's nothing between me and Lovino."

"Mon dieu, Tonio. Why must you be so thick headed? I can see that spark between you two. You're probably just to oblivious to see it yourself. And apparently too oblivious to realise your own feelings."

I wasn't that oblivious, was I? But Francis words started a train of thought in my brain, without my permission. It rushed through my brain at the speed of light, driving past moments and events with Lovino. What he'd said, how he looked. My brain had registered every single movement. The train drove further into my brain, digging deeper and deeper into my feelings. Finally, it went of the train rail and crashed into the ocean of realisation.

Francis must have seen my reaction. "So you finally realised it, didn't you ami?"

"Mierda."

"You did."

"Mierda, Francis. What do I do?"

"What you do? Well, you ask him out."

"Francis, I can't ask a eleven year old out! Beside, he doesn't even like me like that!"

"I don't see the problem. You're only two years older. And I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…."

A cough. Francis stiffened visibly. "Shouldn't you be in bed, Mr Bonnefoy?"

"Merde." Francis mumbled.

"I understand that you wish to check up on Mr Carriedo, but I speak fluent french. Ten points from Ravenclaw."

Francis groaned and facepalmed as Professor Golgindove dragged him out of the room. "I was supposed to check up on you, Mr Carriedo, but I'll come back and do that later." She said just before closing the door.

I laughed a little to myself. Unfortunately, the realisations Francis had forced me too caused more problems than it solved. "Mierda." I whispered to myself again. What would I do? I was in love with my friend, who were two years younger than me and definitely did not return my feelings. I was in love with Lovino Vargas.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry very late christmas everyone! ^.^' Yeah, I know I'm way to late with this chapter! Sorry! But I thought you'd like a christmas special anyways, so here you go! And yes, it's only Germany's and Spain's povs. Yao and Toris will have theirs on new year!  
> (Jett is Australia)

"Wow." Was all I could say as I entered the Great Hall. There were no words to describe how amazing it looked. The christmas trees were impossibly high, there were decorations everywhere and thousands of lights illuminated it.

Gilbert and I stayed at Hogwarts during the break. Our parents were at a business trip (who has business trips over christmas) and going with them was not an option. Feliciano and Lovino had decided to stay too. I'm not quite sure why though. Kiku and Heracles had both gone home, unfortunately.

Lovino and Feliciano seemed as amazed as I. Gilbert however, had spent christmas here last year as well, and just snickered at our reactions. "Pretty awesome, right?" He asked. We could only nod in response.

The food was amazing as well. And there were so much to choose from! Feliciano built a mini Mount Everest on his plate and somehow managed to eat it all. Gilbert did too, but then again, that was my brother we're talking about. Same for Feli I guess.

They had also put wizard crackers on the table. Small exploitation echoed through the hall as people cracked them. Feliciano got a wizard chess set and after dinner we had an epic chess tournament that Lovino won. He was surprisingly good at it! He beat Gilbert with ease, something I think disturbed my brothers ego more than just a little. After all, Gilbert had been 'The Great Master of Wizard Chess' as he'd liked to call himself. Too bad brother, not any longer.

We played a lot of different games. Elizabeta, a girl in Gilbert's year, whom I was more than sure he had a crush on, joined us after a while. Mostly to kick Gilbert's ass. Which she often succeeded with, may I add.

After a while, we had more people joining us, Gilbert's, cough jock cough, friends Matthias, Jett and Alfred. Vash younger sister Lilly, and Vash himself, but I think he joined because of Lilly. After a while, Roderich Edelstein, Gilbert's rival in love joined too and the tournament became both bigger and more heated. Those two love rivals simply couldn't stand one another. But we still had a lot of fun. We made a big tournament of all the games and teamed up in pairs. But since we were an odd number of people, Elizabeta, Gilbert and Roderich ended up on the same team. Let's just say that caused many hilarious moments, a few bruises and a couple of heated arguments. Also, frying pans should be kept out of board games. Muggle guns too. Where did Vash even get that thing?

Finally, after what seemed like hours of playing, Feliciano and I decided to give up and return to our dorm. Lovino and the others choose to stay and play. But when Feli and I reached the door, someone coughed behind us.

"What?"

Gilbert smirked like an evil cat. "Look up, bruder dear."

….Oh. Verdammt. A mistletoe. All the 'gamers' behind us, except Lovino, were either laughing loudly or at least giggling quietly.

"Come on, bruder, it's tradition! Kiss your beloved Feli now, would you?" A humming from the rest of the players indicated that they agreed. Well, minus Lovino, that is. Elizabeta mumbled something that sounded like 'omgomgomgomgYAOI' whatever that meant.

"Shut it, Gilbert." I mumbled.

"Ve~ We can just kiss on the cheek, right?" Feli asked.

"No, no, no! On the lips, of course!"

"I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT!" Was heard from Lovino, but Matthias simply out a hand over the angry italians mouth and said. "Come on guys, it's just a peck! Go for it!"

I glanced nervously at Feliciano. "Um…" I began, but had no idea how to continue. Feli looked up at me and smiled.

"Are you okay with it Luddy?"

"What? I mean...um….yeah...I mean….what...eh…."

Feliciano just giggled, stood on tiptoe and pecked me on the lips. The kiss was almost over before it started.

Wait.

He kissed me.

Oh my god, he just kissed me.

My face burned like thousand volcanoes and I looked down on the floor just to not look Feli in the eyes. Unfortunately, I didn't get much time to recover, because a furious italian boy managed to break free from the dane with the crazy hair and the other cheering guys and tried to attack me. I took Feli's hand on impulse and simply ran.

When we were finally safe in our dorms, we just stared at each other before starting to laugh hysterically. Feliciano fell down from his bed and rolled around on the floor laughing. The entire situation had just been ridiculous and it felt amazing to just being able to laugh about it. But I still had to talk to Feli about what had happened.

"So…. Feli, that...you know, kiss….um…."

"Was it bad?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Um, no, nothing like that! Just eh…."

"Hm?"

"I..eh… I like you!" Was what I managed to blurt out. Fantastic. I'm as awesome as my brother.

Feliciano stared at me, then smiled softly and walked over and hugged me. " I like you too." He whispered.

What? Did I hear that right? Feliciano liked me too? A big smile cracked up on my face as I hugged him back. "Then…" I said when we pulled away. "Would you like to be my boyfriend, Feliciano?"

I had barely finished the sentence before he hugged me again. "Of course, Luddy! Of course, of course, of course!"

* * *

_Spain's pov~_

* * *

"Antonio, there's a package for you!"

"Gracias, mamá!" I got up from my lazy position on the couch and walked over to her. She handed me the small package. It was neatly wrapped in brown paper and light brown laces. I walked back to the couch and began unwrapping it. In it was a box and a letter.

_Ciao, tomato bastard._

_Just so that you know, it wasn't my idea to write this fucking letter. That albino potato bastard forced me to. Fucking bastard. Anyways. I hope you're feeling we-... Fuck, I can't erase ink. It's not like I'm worried about you. I'm just worried about my herbology grades. Not that I have to depend on you for them. I just think it would be boring to study on my own. Not like I'm lonely. Nope._

_Okay fuck this bullshit. You know I'm worried about you. Don't you dare have an attack like the one you had by the lake. You made me fucking worry about you and I hate you for that._

Of course, this was when Sofía decided to start reading over my shoulder. "Ooh, got a letter from your boyfriend, hermano?"

"Sofía! I don't have a boyfriend!"

"Hm? Our little Tonio's gotten himself a boyfriend?" Came a voice from the kitchen.

"Papá!"

"Oh hermano~ You're so cute! Everyone knows you and Lovi are crushing on each other!"

"We are not!" _Well at least he's not._ Thanks for your input mind, now shut up.

"Whatever you say, hermano. Whatever you say." Mumbling quiet curses in spanish, I grabbed my things and headed up to my room. Sitting down on my bed, I continued to read Lovis letter.

_So you better not do it again, okay? Anyways, don't read the rest of the letter until you've opened the box okay, bastard?_

_…_

_Why are you still reading this you idiot? Because I know you are. Hurry the fuck up and open it, god damn it._

Smiling, I reached for the box.

Oh. My smile grew wider. A necklace with a tiny round metal plate. And on the plant was a tiny painting of a spiky bush. Just like the one that had almost stabbed Lovi and had send us running from the greenhouse. I laughed fondly at the memory.

_Shut up, I know you're laughing! Consider it a christmas gift. Merry christmas you damn bastard._

_Lovino_

I laughed even louder and reached for paper and ink to write him an answer. Half way through the letter, I realised something. Smiling again, I started going through my many boxes. Soon, I had a bracelet made of a slim metal chain, a metal plate similar to the one on the necklace and paint. Soon, I had made a bracelet matching my necklace. Lovino would probably write something along the lines of 'Bastard, why did you do that? I don't need us to have fucking matching jewelry!' But he'd wear it anyways. He was always so cute!

Which led me to that question. What should I do about my crush on him? It was kinda hard to decide when half of my brain screamed at me to go for it and the other told my shut up and just act like normal. Though I guess my 'normal' was somewhat…. Affectionate?

"Hermano! Mamá says we can open the gifts now!"

"Comming!"

* * *

I received the next letter just two days later, which was incredibly fast. Did Lovi hex his owl or something? Anyway, it started like this:

_THAT BLOND POTATO BASTARD JUST MOLESTED MY INNOCENT BROTHER!_

He ranted on like that for a while. I counted the times he used the words bastad, potato and idiot. 27 times in total. When he'd finally calmed down, he explained the situation for me. Apparently, Ludwig and Feliciano had ended up under a mistletoe. What happened after that, beside the fact that they kissed, was somewhat unclear, though I'm unsure whether poor Ludwig made it out alive or not. Though Lovi, more or less, admitted that he was somewhat happy for Feli. Just afraid Ludwig would hurt him in any way. He was so sweet! Always so protective and caring. I know Lovino loved Feliciano a lot and that he just worried about him.

I had written to Francis and Gilbert too, of course. But Lovi's letter made me feel happier than anything. I missed him a lot. For the first time in forever, I wanted to go back to school.

* * *

Christmas break floated by smoothly. Everything was perfect. At least, that's what I'd told Lovino, Francis and Gilbert. In reality, it was quite the opposite. My illness was getting worse, day by day. My parents worried about what to do. Should they even let me go back to Hogwarts? On this part, I made it clear that yes, I would go back to Hogwarts. I wasn't that ill. If I just took it easy and didn't participate in any form of physical exercise, I'd be fine. Well, I hoped so.

The doctors didn't know how to cure my illness. They called it 'a muggle illness'. They were still trying to figure out some kind of spell, or potion that could help me. My parents started to think about taking me to a muggle hospital. Though that was in many ways ridiculous. We, as wizards, couldn't go to a muggle hospital. No, the entire idea was stupid. The doctors we had would figure something out. Probably.

* * *

I think it was three days after Christmas. I woke up and everything felt normal. Breakfast went by without trouble. After breakfast, I made my over to our library. Suddenly it felt like my heart stopped. I couldn't breath. Everything happened so fast. I barely registered my mother's terrified scream as I fell to the floor. I don't even remember landing. I didn't have time to think, everything just ended.

I woke up hours later in the hospital. Alone. But soon, I was surrounded by my worried family and doctors and nurses. Though I'm not sure how worried the last two groups were. They talked way too fast for me to follow, mixing spanish and english out of worry. Poor doctors. They probably didn't understand a single thing. After a while, they left me alone and I fell asleep almost immediately.

Next time I woke up, they told me I'd have to stay here for a few days. Amazing. Sofía assured me she'd come up with something to entertain me, but honestly, I had little faith in her. Man, was I wrong! Always trust your siblings people!

When I woke up the day after Sofía told me someone wanted to see me. Without waiting for my response, she snuck out of the room. And in came…

"Lovi!"

"Ciao, idiota."

"What are you doing here?"

"Visiting you." He said, sitting down on the chair next to my bed. "What the fuck does it look like?"

"I just wondered how you go away from Hogwarts. I thought you'd spend the break there."

"Not a problem." Was his only response. "Are you….Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly, blushing a little.

"Yeah, don't worry." I smiled. "I felt like crap before, but I'm okay now."

An awkward silence fell over the room. "So…" I began, wanting to break the silence. "What's it like at Hogwarts now?"

That got him talking. He talked about his brother and Ludwig and their relationship. He talked about Gilbert and what an idiot he was. He talked about the other students there and how annoying they were. I just sat there and listened, laughing and making comments. We had a great time, but I soon felt tired again. I tried to suppress a yawn, but failed miserably. Lovi glared at me.

"If you're tired, just say so idiota. I don't want you to get fucking worse."

"It's okay Lovi I -yawn- I'm okay…."

"Just go to sleep. You should rest." He mumbled, blushing a little again.

"Mhm…" I mumbled, starting to drift asleep. "Hey Lovi? Thanks for coming to see me. It was...it was nice of you…."

"Sh-shut up. Idiot." It could have been my imagination, my tired mind tricking me, but just before I fell asleep, I heard a whisper in my ear. "Get well soon, Antonio." Then something soft touched my cheek and I couldn't stay awake any longer.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everone! Yes, yes I know. If you live in Australia or Japan or well in any another timezone than me, it might already be the 2nd of January. Sorry! But it's still the 1st for me so well...
> 
> (In case you were wondering, Mark and Sarah that are mentioned are no ones. Once again, I've thrown in random persons that will disappear with this chapter ^.^')

Yao's Pov

"Are you freezing, sunflower?"

"Are you kidding?" I shivered. "Of course I do."

Ivan smiled kindly and started to take of his jacket. "Ivan! Don't do that, are! I'm fine! Won't you freeze?"

"I'm russian!" Ivan laughed, putting the jacket over my shoulder. "I'm used to the cold! I don't want you to get sick, Yao-Yao. Better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

We hadn't been able to find any cave, nor anything mountain like for that matter. We'd traveled quite a distance since the day we'd left Hogwarts. To be honest, I didn't know exactly where we were. Ivan were the one who knew which road to take and which in direction we should go. Sure, I had looked at the map Ivan had made, but he was the one who led the way, so to say.

"But are you sure you won't freeze?" I continued.

"Of course I am! Should we light a fire?" He asked. "That way, you won't have to worry about me and you won't freeze either."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if someone sees the light?" I pointed to the small village not too far away. We should probably avoid humans as much as possible. Getting send back to Hogwarts, and in Ivan case probably something neither of us wanted to think about wasn't high up on our wish list.

"There's always that risk." Ivan admitted. "But it's either that or risk getting sick or die." Well, what could I say to that?

But that led us to a another problem. Wood. Or, to be exact, dry wood. The snow that had fallen just a week ago had made most of the wood on the trees and even more so on the ground, wet.

It took us awhile, but we managed to light a small fire, mostly thanks to me drying sticks with the hems of Ivan's jacket. We light it behind the biggest rock we could find, in order to hide it from the village.

I shoved some snow away sat down beside the fire. I opened my bag and sighed. "We barely have any food left."

"I know." Ivan picked up a fruit of unknown sort, made a face upon examining it, but decided to try it. He spit it out it in an instant. "That's not edible."

"I'd say your reaction confirmed that pretty well." I said, smiling a little at his disgusted expression.

Ivan threw the fruit away. "Do we have anything else?"

"Are these cookies edible?"

"Yao, they are green."

"Yong Soo made green cookies once."

"..."

"What?"

"I'm not going to ask, but I still don't think those cookies are safe to eat."

"I don't think so either." I sighed, putting them away. "But I'm still hungry."

"I know." Ivan hugged me. "And so am I. But we'll reach a bigger town soon. We'll be able to find food there, one way or another."

"Mmm." I mumbled. We both started to drift off to sleep, but was abruptly awoken by the sound of steps. Ivan and I sat up abruptly, threw snow over the fire and stood up to leave. But we were half a second too late.

"Who's there?" A voice called. Ivan and I stood completely still, trying not to mode or make any sound. However, as the steps came closer, Ivan quietly drew his wand. I put my hand over his and shook my head warningly. He have me a look, but put the wand away. Just as he had, a young man stepped out from the other side of the rock. For a few moments, he just stared at us. "What are two kids like you doing out here?"

When we refused to answer, he sighed. "You don't even have proper clothes for this kind of weather. You'll freeze to death like that."

Of course, this was the moment when to rumble. The man smiled. "And you seem to be quite hungry too. Listen, I can't leave two poor kids outside like this. I don't know why you're here or what has happened to you, but leaving you our here is absolutely not an opinion. My wife would skin me alive if I even thought about it. It's new year's eve and my family has prepared a huge meal. It's more than enough for you two to join us." He stopped. "Oh sorry!" He said, laughing. "It's probably a bit weird and creepy to be asked to eat dinner with someone you just met in the forest like this."

Well no shit Sherlock. What was wrong with this guy?

"I'm Mark." He continued. "I live in the village over there with my wife and children. The reason I'm here is because I'm going to setting up firecrackers. There's a place just a little further in, a tiny hill, that's ideal for it. Anyways, won't you at least tell me your names?"

Well wasn't this guy…...stupid. "Yao."

"Ivan." Ivan was one step away from releasing his creepy aura. Well, I can't say I didn't understand him. This guy was so happy it was almost creepy. And really annoying.

"Nice to meet you, Yao and Ivan." With his bright smile and his way of speaking, Mark reminded me of Yong Soo. No, that's not a compliment. Though it's not all bad either.

~~~~~~linebreak doesn't work~~~~~~~~

Don't ask me how that man who could have been an axe murderer but apparently wasn't, convinced us to join him and his family. No wait. Scratch that, I know the answer.

Our stomachs.

They won.

Mark and his family was really nice. And they did indeed have a lot of food! I can't even remember every dish! He had an adorable little daughter who reminded me of Mei and an equally adorable son. They were all curious about our background, but the girl was the only one to show it. Most of the time we managed to avoid the question she threw at us, but some questions were more complicated to avoid. Though I think we did good overall and managed to reveal close to nothing. After dinner, Mark went out to light the fireworks and we stood outside the house watching them.

"Happy new year." Ivan smiled brightly and hugged me tight.

"You too." I laughed happily, hugging him back. When the rest of the family went inside, Ivan took the chanse to peck me on the lips. I smiled and gave him a quick kiss before we returned inside as well.

Mark's wife Sarah put the kids to sleep. When she came back downstairs, her entire attitude had changed.

"I know who you are." She said as she sat down in the arm chair next to the sofa Ivan and I sat in. We both froze at her statement.

"How...I...What?"

"You are Yao Wang and Ivan Braginski, both fifth years from Hogwarts. You fled from the school quite a while ago." We didn't say anything. Ivan clenched his fist in anger. I prayed that he wouldn't do something recless or stupid. And that we wouldn't be send back.

"Listen." She continued. "I know this because my sister works as divination professor at Hogwarts." Sarah smiled. "Yes, I'm a witch. Mark however, is a muggle. In any case, my sister wished for me to report onto her if I saw you or anything that could help them find you. I haven't, and i won't. I understand why they want to find you, and your relatives must be worrying sick but...I belive you two have suffered enough. I know the pain of loving someone you shouldn't. So I want to help you. You can take any food you'd like and I'll give you proper clothes. However, you have to erase mine and my family's memories. I don't have to tell you about what could happen if you don't."

We stared at her, not knowing what to say. Finally, her words sank in. "Thank you so much, aru!"

~~~~~~still doesn't~~~~~~~~

I looked back at the house.

"You don't have to feel guilty, Yao-Yao. She wanted us to do this."

"Ivan, you make it sound like we killed her."

He laughed and took my hand. "Let's go. Don't worry about them, da? They can handle themselves."

"I know." I gripped his hand tighter. "And yes. Let's go."

~~~~~~excuse me while I kill this linebreak thing~~~~

Toris pov

I woke up on the 31st of December, thinking that it would be yet another horrible day. I was right and I was wrong.

Well honestly, every day since then had been nothing but horrible. And coming home hadn't really helped. Everything was just plain chaos. Most of the time, I locked myself up in my room and ignored every attempt to contact me. Every now and then, you'd hear people screaming here at each other. It wasn't until new year's eve that Raivis, my youngest brother, quite literally dragged me out of the room. To be honest, I didn't really have a choice. Dad had, according to Raivis, gone out to somewhere and mum and Eduard had, like me, locked themselves up.

Raivis more or less forced me back to life. We didn't have anything to eat or drink so I had to go shopping. Raivis wanted to have at least a lantern to send flying since it was new year, one of those with a ring inside that you set on fire so that the lantern turn into a mini air-balloon. So I had to find that too. And cook dinner, though Raivis kinda helped. After dinner, Raivis wanted to watched some weird and boring new year program. I sat with him in the sofa, but I soon fell asleep.

" _Toris, like, wake up! The fireworks have already started! It's soon new year!"_

_What? Someone shook my shoulder, trying to wake me up._

_"Toris!"_

_"Okay, okay! I'm awake now Feliks!"_

_"Finally!" He sighed dramatically but laughed. "Come on now, stop being lazy and come out to watch the fireworks!"_

_"Are you the right person to tell someone that they are lazy?"_

_He stuck out his tongue but laughed again. "Fine, fine! I'm not THAT lazy though!"_

_"Oh no, of course lot!" I said, rolling my eyes._

_"Shut up!" He took a pillow and threw it at me. Not being prepared for that, it managed to hit me right in the face and with a force that nearly made me fall backwards. Feliks laughed loudly, but that laughter was soon cut out with an 'umpf' as the pillow hit him in the face instead. This quickly escalated to the biggest one-on-one pillow fight in the grand history of pillow wars._

_A gigantic firework exploded outside, illuminating the sky in green, red and gold. We stopped and looked outside._

_"What time is it?" Feliks asked, picking up a candy box that had fallen to the floor during our fight._

_"Wait a second…" I responded, placing a fallen book on my bedside table. "It's….23:59! Only one minute left!"_

_Just as I had said it, we heard people starting the countdown outside. Feliks smiled brightly at me and started to count too._

_"Five!"_

_"Four!" I responded._

_"Three!" Feliks shouted louder._

" _Two!"_

_"One!"_

_Feliks ran over to me, threw his arms around me and knocked me over. "HAPPY NEW YEAR TORIS!"_

"Toris, wake up! The fireworks have already started! It's soon new year!"

"I...what? Oh it's you Raivis."

"Who else?" He tilted his head.

"Never mind. I dreamed about last year. Feliks said the exact same thing to me then."

Raivis took my hand and looked at me with sad eyes. He looked both understanding and confused. I don't know how much they had told him, but he was rather mature for his age. He probably understood a lot. I hoped, and believed, that he hadn't understood the part involving Eduard. It would break his heart if he found out.

"You know, Toris." He smiled a little, as if unsure if it was okay or not. "Mom always talk about grandpa looking down at us from a cloud somewhere. Feliks must be looking down on you from somewhere too."

I patted his head a little. "Yeah, you're probably right." Trying to change the subject, I looked at the time. "It's just five minutes left. Do you want to go outside?"

Outside, some people had already started with their fireworks. I went inside again to get the lantern for Raivis. "I brought a pen to." I said as I came outside again. "Some people write things on these."

Raivis thought for a while, then grabbed the pen and wrote something. He turned it to me.

**Happy New Year Feliks!**

I stared at the lantern. I stared at Raivis. I stared at the lantern again. Tears started to form in my eyes, but at the same time, the first smile since that day creeped up on my lips reluctantly. Raivis made a surprised sound when I hugged him, but quickly hugged me back. Around us, more and more fireworks exploded, welcoming the new year.

"Happy new year, Toris."

"Happy new year, Raivis." He smiled and light the small ring inside the lantern to make it fly. I looked up at the sky, smiling towards it.

_Happy new year, Feliks_.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Hello again... I am so sorry guys. I haven't updated in three months! Three months! I'm so sorry, school's been hell for me the past months so I haven't had any time to write! But finally, I'm back!  
>  And to all of you who've been comenting; I try to answer, but sometimes I don't, but I love all of you and your comments mean the world to me! Thank you so much! Actually, that goes for every single one of you who read this: Thank you so much for reading, I love you and I'm sorry...  
> But well, here you go; finally a new chapter :)

 

Germany's Pov

* * *

I stared at the messy map in front of me. Sighing, I looked at my grinning brother. "Gilbert, this is stupid. It will never work."

"What are you talking about? Of course it will, the awesome me made it!"

"Bruder. This. Is. Stupid."

"Ve~ I think it looks like fun!"

"Hai, agree. It could use some changes to improve it, but otherwise I think it's a good idea."

"Feliciano? Kiku? You guys agree with them?"

"But of course, mon ami! After all, this is our fantastic plan!"

Sighing louder, I looked down at the paper again.

**OPERATION GETTING-THE-TOMATO-LOVERS-TOGETHER!**

**(I AM AWESOME!)**

Suddenly, I felt an arm snake around mine. "Per favore, Luddy? Won't you help out?" Feliciano said, giving his biggest puppy eyes. In the background, I heard Kiku snickering. He'd been acting...How do I put this….A little weird since the day he came back to school and found out that Feliciano and I had started dating. Not in a bad way though, just...weird. Perhaps weird didn't describe it well enough. Though I'm not sure what word to use to describe him... Fanboy?

"Luddy!" Feliciano whined. "Please!"

"Ja...fine…" Pretending to not hear Feli's happy squeals, I turned to my brother. "But like Kiku said, this plan needs improvement. First off, I think we should change this part…"

* * *

The plan was...pretty simple. First off all, we had to make sure Lovino and Antonio were separated. We figured that splitting into two groups and dealing with them one by one would be more effective. Having Feli, Kiku and I deal with Lovino would, hopefully, seem less suspicious too.

It was simple while we had classes. Since Antonio, Francis and my brother were two years over us, we could avoid each other with ease. Meals weren't much of a problem either. Gilbert and Francis made one guy from Slytherin and one from Hufflepuff keep an eye on our two victims. I mean….friends.

However, just as Kiku, Feli and I had left the potion classroom, after our last class for the day…

"Scheisse! Code red, everyone, code red!"

"What is it now, Gilbert?"

"Antonio is gone!"

"It's your fault, Gilbert! You were supposed to keep an eye on him!"

"No, _you_ were supposed to do that, Francis!"

"I knew this would happen.." I sighed to myself. Feliciano smiled and hugged my arm.

"Ve, don't worry! We'll find him! He's probably just in the dorm or something!"

"Feli's right, it's nothing to worry about." Kiku said. "But I must agree with you, this was bound to happen." He added quietly, looking at the two bickering friends.

"At least we know where Lovino is." Just to make sure I was right, I looked over to the Slytherin table, where Feliciano's twin (thankfully) still sat. "We'll do like this." I announced. "Francis and Gilbert, since it's your fault…"

"Hey!"

"You know it's true bruder, now let me continue. Since it is your fault, you should try to find him while Feli, Kiku and I continue to keep an eye on Lovino. Try to be as quick as possible in your search. We need to put the plan into action before the dinner."

"Yes, Sir!" Gilbert saluted ironically, going as far as clicking his heels.

"Just go find Antonio…."

Laughing obnoxiously, Gilbert grabbed Francis's wrist and dragged him away to search for the Spanish boy. I heard a giggle behind me, and soon found myself dragged into a hug by Feliciano.

"You sounded so cool, Ludwig!" He giggled happily. "Like a real military officer!"

"Ja...well I...um…." Kiku let out a quiet snicker and my face went red yet again. Goddamn face! "We...we should keep an eye on Lovino."

"Perhaps we could invite him to study with us?" Kiku suggested. "That's less suspicious."

"That's a great idea Kiku!" Feliciano beamed. "FRATELLOOOOOOO!"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?"

* * *

We dragged Lovino with us to the library. The angry Italian kept mumbling things like 'why do we have to study now, idiotas' and 'I'd rather stay in my dorm'. However, he didn't make any attempts to run away, and followed us like a rather angry and irritated puppy. Professor McSnortsbottom almost ran past us in the corridor, which was rather unusual for her. Our, let's say easily irritated, professor would usually give someone a good scolding if they ran in the corridor. When Professor Golgindove hurried past us as well, I raised my voice.

"Excuse me, Professor? What's going on? Is something wrong?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, turning to face us with a white, nervous face. "Oh nothing you need to worry about, Mr Beilschmidt." For a split second her eyes gazed over to Kiku, before returning to meet mine again. "There's nothing for you to worry about." She repeated.

Our professor hurried away, leaving us standing there, staring after her like four quiet idiots. She couldn't seriously believe we wouldn't understand something was wrong, could she? Of course, we couldn't know exactly what it was, but she had looked at Kiku in a way that indicated that he was involved. The only thing I could think of would be his brother, but wouldn't she have told him if that was the case?

We stared awkwardly at each other. Feliciano was the first to break the silence. "It's probably nothing serious! Let's go to the library!" He said, smiling his typical Feliciano smile.

"Yeah, Feli's probably right. And it could be about anything. So let's…. Oh scheisse!" I cursed.

"So now Lovino is gone too." Kiku stated calmly.

"Scheisse." I mumbled again. "I knew this plan would fail. We should try to find my brother and Francis. We decide what to do from there."

* * *

"OH MY GOD LUDWIG! THIS IS AWESOME!"

"Shut up bruder… You lost track Antonio before…"

"Yes but now you can't complain about it! Kesesesesesesese!"

"Yeah, yeah… So what do we do now?"

"Eager to change the subject? Is it really that embarrassing for little Luddy?"

"Gilbert, shut up before I kill you."

"Yes, yes, that's enough." Francis calmly stepped in between my brother and me. "As much as I'd like to join Gilbert and tease you…"

"Francis you..."

"...I still think we should try to find our two lovebirds, oui?"

"How do we do that?" Feliciano asked.

"We should split up and search. We can reassemble here later if we haven't found them."

Francis nodded. "Oui, I think that's the best idea. Should we use the same groups as before?"

* * *

You might wonder how one loud Spaniard and one, when angered, equally loud Italian could disappear without a trace.

Unfortunately, I still have no answer for that.

As annoying and tiring as it was, an hour after we'd set out to search, Antonio and Lovino were still gone. Feliciano, Kiku and I sat at our meeting point, waiting for Francis and Gilbert to return.

"We saw Antonio!" Francis ran up to us, stopping with his hands on his knees. "You know the storage room in our plan? We saw him rather close to it!"

"And you didn't catch him because…?"

"Because it would have been suspicious and maybe because we lost track of him a little…"

"...I guessed that much. Where's Gilbert?"

"He's waiting for us back there. He stayed so he could see if Antonio came around again."

We hurried over to the place where Gilbert waited. Just like Francis had said, it was very close to the storage room. However, there was no sign of Antonio whatsoever. Gilbert said that we should try and look around here a little. At first, we stayed in one group. We'd split up enough as it was for one day and it had only given bad result. Then all of sudden, Francis spotted Antonios brown hair further into the corridor. We hurried towards him...But he disappeared. And he could have gone two different ways. Groaning, I grabbed Feliciano and Kiku and dragged them to the left while Francis and Gilbert walked to the right.

We walked along the corridor and as we came closer to the storage room, I started to believe we'd chosen the wrong path. Kiku stopped and picked up a piece of paper. I turned around both to ask him about it and tell him and Feli that we should go back, when someone jumped out from behind a state and grabbed me. Before I knew it, I was thrown into the storage room, Feliciano tumbling in seconds after me. The door slammed shut and everything went black.

"What the…? Gilbert?! If this is some kind of joke…"

"Ludwig?" Came Kiku's voice from the other side of the door. "Are the two of you okay?"

"Kiku!" Feliciano almost screamed. "It's dark and scary, please get us out!"

"Calm down, Feli." I mumbled and hugged him gently. "Don't worry, I'm here. We'll get out soon." Feliciano nodded a little, his head pressed against my chest.

"Who was it?" I asked Kiku. To my surprise, I heard a quiet laugh from the other side.

"Antonio and Lovino!" The amusement in Kiku' voice was clear. "Gilbert dropped the paper with our plan and Antonio or Lovino must have found it. And dropped it again,because that was the paper I found."

I rested my head against the door with a tired sigh. Though I had to admit it was rather amusing. The fact that they'd turned our plan against us, not that Feli and I was locked up in a store room.

"Don't worry." I heard Kiku say from the other side. "I'll go find Gilbert and Francis and get you out."

"Yeah, thanks." I heard Kiku walking away, his steps sounding more and more distant. I turned my attention back to Feliciano.

"Are you okay Feli?"

"Mhm." He nodded against my chest. "Because you are here!" He added and I knew he was smiling brightly. For the first time since we were locked in, I was thankful for the darkness.

We sat down on the floor, Feliciano still curled up against me. We sat in silence for a long time, not even Feli feeling a need to say something. Then he started singing. A slow, beautiful song in Italian. I had no idea what the words meant, but they sounded happy and love filled. The song was calming, almost sounding like a flowing river, and once again I was amazed by Feliciano's beautiful voice. The song began trailing off and Feliciano yawned. Soon, he fell asleep against my chest. I rested my head against the wall, and before I knew it, I was asleep as well, Feliciano's song still echoing in the room.

* * *

Let's steal a timeturner, go back in time and take a look from Spain's pov!

* * *

"Psst! Lovi!" Understandably, Lovi didn't see me. He was standing a couple of meters away with his brother and said brother's friends, turned away from me. The fact that I was hiding behind a statue probably only made it worse.

"Lovino!" I whispered a little louder. Now he seemed to hear me, turning his head in my direction. I looked out from behind the statue and waved at him. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something. Quickly, I put a finger on my mouth, to indicate that he should be quiet, and motioned for him to come over. Lovino threw a careful glance over his shoulder, but the other first years seemed occupied with their conversation.

"What the fuck bastard?"

"Shh, Lovi! Come on, I'm going to show you something!"

"Wha-?" Not giving him time to finish his sentence, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. More because of luck than good timing, Feliciano and the others didn't see us.

"Well, tell me. What was it you wanted to show me?"

I smiled and handed him a not so neatly folded paper. "You see, Gilbert dropped this…"

…..

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? ARE THEY SERIOUS? I SWEAR I'LL KILL THOSE BASTARDS!"

Laughing, I snatched the paper back before Lovino could tear it apart. "Calm down, Lovi!"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, GOD DAMNIT! THESE BASTARDS WERE TRYING TO DO FUCKING MATCHMAKING!"

"I think it's funny!"

"What is funny about them trying to do matchmaking?" Lovino exclaimed, red like a tomato. "They have nothing to do with that and it's annoying and…." He continued his rant in Italian, making it impossible for me to understand. Spanish and Italian might resemble each other, but Lovi spoke too fast for me to understand what he said.

At least he never said he had a problem with the one he was matched with…. Said a little voice in the back of my head. Yeah, at least not in English, I thought back.

"Calm down, calm down." I laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "I was thinking we could mess with their plan a little."

That caught his interest. "How?"

"Look here." I said, pointing to the messy plan. "They were planning to lock us up in this storeroom. Francis and Gilbert would be acting guards, while Feli and his friends would be to be the ones to lock us in. So if we do like this…"

Lovino grinned evilly. " Antonio you're a fucking genius! Let's give them a taste of their own medicine!"

I found myself staring completely dumbstruck at Lovino. He actually said my name. Usually, he'd just say 'bastard' or...

"Why are you staring at me, idiot?" Or idiot.

"Oh, nothing Lovino…." I laughed, but felt heat rise on my cheeks. Lovino eyed me suspiciously, but decided to let it go and grabbed the paper with the plan and my wrist.

"Let's go ruin their annoying matchmaking plan."

* * *

I grinned to myself. I knew Gilbert was standing just a few meters away, around the corner, waiting for the others. As soon as I heard them, I would walk to my next position, just a little further away. I just needed to know they were here. Minutes passed, I started to get bored, when I heard steps and a 'Hey, Gilbert!'. As quick as my body would let me, I got up from my hiding place and walked away to the next. Though I guess that wasn't really a hiding place, more like a waiting place. I just had to wait for them to see me, then I'd move to the final location where Lovi waited.

Again, they took their sweet time and waiting got boring. I considered throwing stones against the wall, both to amuse myself and to get their attention if they were close. But I didn't, mainly because they came around a corner and spotted me just as I was about to pick up a rock.

I walked forward again and hid behind the left stone statue, next to the storage room. I grinned to Lovino, who was hiding behind the one on the other side of the corridor, and made the thumbs up sign. Shortly after, we heard steps approaching, and Ludwig saying something. They came closer and closer, until they were so close Lovino and I could jump out and grab them. Together, we threw our two victims, Feliciano and Ludwig, into the tiny room, and hurried away as fast as my body would let me. I laughed loudly as I heard Kiku let out a surprised yelp as he saw us.

We slowed down our pace as I couldn't walk too quickly, but laughed and bumped into each other until we exited the castle and fell down in the grass outside.

We just lay there, laughing until our stomachs hurt. Then we looked at each other and started to laugh again. Finally, our laughter died down. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel exhausted and dizzy and that my heart didn't beat so fast it hurt. But I didn't care, because laughing with Lovino felt amazing.

"That…" Lovino began, his eyes still sparkling. "Was so fucking funny."

I smiled and moved a little closed to him, so that our arms were touching. He didn't move away. "Yeah."

"Though if the potato bastard touches Feli, he's dead."

I laughed at him again, it was so like Lovi to say something like that. "Yeah, it would probably have been more fun with Francis and Gilbert. Matchmaking them wouldn't work, they wouldn't dream of becoming a couple, they would have destroyed the whole room while trying to get out! But Feli and Ludwig make a cute couple." I pointed out.

Lovino snorted. "A potato bastard is always a potato bastard. Feli could do much better." He paused. "But… I know he makes Feli happy." He mumbled. "I just don't want him to get his heart broken…"

I smiled and took the risk to move even closer. "You're so cute Lovi. You really care about him."

"Of course I do, bastard. And if you tell anyone what I just said, I swear I'll kill you!"

"I know."

We lay there for a while and watched the sky turn into different shades of orange, yellow, red and pink. Sometimes, one of us would say something, tell a joke or a story. Then we'd just lay in silence for a little while. Lovino, much to my surprise, moved closer and rested his head on my arm. He mumbled something about killing me again, but without any real bite in his words. When the sky started turning purple and dark blue, we headed inside again, walking just a little closer than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Just to make something clear; the hearth condition Antonio is suffering from is totally made up. A similar one might excist in real life, but I'm no doctor so I don't know. But this one is made up.)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello! ^^ Look, a new chapter, just a few days after the last! ^^

 

Yao's Pov

* * *

"This way! Hurry, Yao!"

"I can't run much faster Ivan!"

"You have to!"

How? How did they find us? How was it even possible? We'd been gone for months now, how come they found us now?

Four days ago, we reached a small town. In fear of being found, we stayed outside it and stole food at night. I felt horrible for breaking into the tiny store, but what could we possibly have done?  
We only stayed one night. No more. We understood that people would notice the stolen food from the shop and that we had to leave as quick as we could.

We left no trace behind. At least, that's what I thought. But how? Even if we'd dropped...let's say a glove or anything, how could someone trace it to us? And so quickly? It simply wasn't possible!

Ivan grabbed my hand and dragged me forward. Could we really outrun them? A treacherous voice in my mind replied. No.

I heard something behind us. I saw a shadow to our left.

"Yao, look!"

A river! Maybe, maybe crossing that river could help. But as we ran closer, I began to doubt it. Maybe it was the opposite. Maybe we had fallen into their trap. The water was as dark as the sky at night, small ice floes floated in it, and worst of all; it had a considerably strong current.

"I-Ivan, wait…. Is this really safe aru? Maybe we shouldn't…"

Still running, Ivan turned his head to me and smiled. "Trust me Yao-Yao! It's going to be okay!" And with that, he took the first step onto one of the slippery, traitorous rocks.

Everything went well. Until we reached the middle of the river. A slightly misdirected spell flew past our heads. Or well, my head and Ivan's shoulder. Giving a surprised shout, I tilted myself to the side to avoid what had already flewn past us and missed. My foot found a particularly slippery part of the stone.

Time moved just a little slower for a few seconds. Ivan's eyes stared into mine, wide open and with a tiny spark of fear in them. He reached the hand that didn't hold mine to stop my fall.

"YAO!"

And we crashed into the water. Cold, cold, cold was all I could feel. The backpack and my clothes dragged me down, but I managed to swim up to the surface.

"IVAN!" I couldn't see him anywhere. "IVAN!" There! I saw his white hair floating in the water. Still calling his name I tried to swim over to him. But it was no use, the current was too strong.

And then I heard it. The wild, dangerous sound of a waterfall. It was over. This would be were we died, far away from those we love and so close but so far from each other.

I could feel myself giving up. It was just hopeless, I couldn't move because of the ice cold water and I could never reach Ivan. We could never get away from the waterfall that we were approaching way too fast.

I let go. I gave up. My limbs stopped moving and cold water splashed over my face, covering it completely as I sank down. But I couldn't feel it, not really. Not how cold or dark the water really was, not how scary everything was. I couldn't feel anything anymore.

They say people see their lives flashing before their eyes the moment before they die, but I didn't see any of that. I saw the first time I met Ivan, when he came to stay with me during a week of Summer and the first time we kissed. I saw small events, such as the two of us lying in the grass outside Hogwarts, not saying a word and just enjoying lying there. I saw that moment when we decided to leave Hogwarts and when we danced in the cave at Halloween. I saw Ivan's platinum colored hair that glowed like a thousand stars when light shone on it. His purple eyes that always seemed to look at me with the purest kindness.

Darkness began taking over my world. Ivan and his kind, bright smile faded away. Wait! Wait, Ivan! Stay with me Ivan! But my body wouldn't move and Ivan smiled one last, shining and beautiful smile before finally disappearing.

_I'm sorry, Ivan._

_I love you._

* * *

_Wake up, Yao-Yao._

Who?

_You can't sleep here, Yao!_ A laugh, quiet and almost like a giggle, was heard. _You'll catch a cold if you fall asleep outside like this!_

Ivan?

_Come on, sunflower. It's time to wake up!_

Why was everything so dark? Why was Ivan trying to wake me up? I just wanted to sleep. Why couldn't Ivan let me sleep? Just five minutes…

_Yao!_

Five minutes Ivan…

_YAO!_

Why would Ivan be screaming like that? I tried to open my eyes and look at him, only to find out it didn't work. Why couldn't I open my eyes? Why did my body hurt so much? I just wanted to sleep…

* * *

A wave of cold water washed over me, waking me up once again. This time I managed to open my eyes, even though it hurt a little bit. Groaning, I pushed myself up on so I sat on my knees and looked over my surroundings. I was sitting by the river, on a tiny beach-like landmass. The water flowed by slowly, indicating I was rather far away from the waterfall. Telling the time would have been an impossible task, it was pitch black with only a few lonely stars on the sky and I couldn't see the moon. It was cold, my hair was frozen and my clothes were wet from the river. And I was completely alone.

Slowly, I got up on my feet using a branch from a nearby three to drag myself up. My legs screamed at me to lie down again and I was tempted to obey them. However, I decided against it. I was going to find Ivan. There was no way he hadn't made it. Ivan was strong and had an amazing willpower. If I could survive this, so could he.

I shivered. I realized I had lost my bag when I fell in the river. Which meant I had lost all food in it, all clothes and, what made my heath ache, the family photo. It hurt a lot, to lose that photo. But for now, my main focus had to be to stay alive. I could probably go on without food for a while. The main problem would be my wet clothes. Getting hypothermia wasn't high up on my wish-list. But I couldn't take them off either, that would only be stupid considering it was winter.

I had no idea what to do. Should I walk down the river? Or up, towards the waterfall? Should I walk away from the river? I quickly dropped the last idea. The river could provide me with water, which I would need to survive. Again, I could survive without food, but not without water.

In the end, I decided to walk up the river. It was hard, my clothes were heavy and cold and my body hurt. I only now realized that my right leg had taken quite a lot of damage when I fell into the river. Or down the waterfall, I wasn't sure. Either way, it hurt like hell and walking on it was hard. But I had to go on. I'd find Ivan, even if it would be the last thing I'd do.

* * *

I don't know for how long I walked. It felt like hours, but it could have been much shorter. I tried to look at the moon to figure out the time, but sometimes I couldn't see it because of the high trees surrounding the river. Suddenly, my legs gave in and I fell down into the cold snow. I couldn't get up. I couldn't move. It was like I was under water again, my body slowly giving up.

And that was when I saw it. The thread hanging from a tree. And not just any thread. It was from Ivan's scarf. When I saw that little thread it was like someone lit a fire inside me. I pushed myself onto my feet, ignoring my body's screams. Ivan was alive. He had put up a sign for me to follow, to find him.

I could no longer feel the pain in my foot, nor anywhere else. I knew now, that the one I loved the most in the world was alive and that was enough to keep me going forever.

_I will find you, Ivan._

_I promise!_

* * *

Toris Pov

* * *

Eduard was going back to Hogwarts today. It was almost a week since school had actually started, but the school and our parents had agreed on letting him start a little later. "Family problems" they told everyone. Yeah, you could call this a family problem. Or a family war. A family end.

That was a much better way to describe what was happening to my family. Eduard and I hid in our rooms, refusing to come down or talk to each other. I, out of anger and grief and he, out of fear. At least that's what I thought.

Screams would very often be heard from downstairs. Mom and dad were constantly fighting. Sometimes about bigger things, such as how much they should explain to little Raivis. Sometimes about trivial things, that they only fought about because they were tired, confused and angry at everything.

The screaming would eventually escalate, until someone left, slamming the door. Every time, after the door had been closed, steps would be heard in the corridor and Raivis would sneak in to my room. In all honesty, I'm not sure how much he knew of the incident. Sometimes I wondered if mom and dad argued to much about how much to tell him, that they forgot to tell him at all. I didn't have the heart to tell him. Raivis was only ten after all. For him, it was bad enough that his parents were fighting. He didn't need to know the reason why his brothers refused to speak to each other.

My parents and teachers had decided that it would be the best for me not to return to Hogwarts this year. I didn't really complain, I had no interest going back to that place. The mere thought of the astronomy tower... No, I'd never go back. Perhaps I could study from home and graduate that way. Because going back to that place wouldn't work. Walking in those corridors, sleeping in those dorms and eating in that Hall. No. No way.

Someone knocked on my door reluctantly, slow and carefully, like they were scared. "Toris?" A weak voice asked.

My heart skipped a beat, for many reasons. Surprise and unpleasant flashbacks being the strongest reasons. I refused to answer, turning my back to the door.

"Toris?" My brother begged me again. "Please...let me in."

"Fine." My answer and voice surprised me. I didn't want to speak to him, yet I'd told him to come in. My voice was low and quiet, but at the same time threatening. I had no idea I could sound like that. It scared me.

Slowly, my door creaked open and my brother stepped into my room. Eduard looked tired, like he had aged many years in just a few weeks. He had dark bags under his eyes and his arms hung like heavy sacks to his sides. He looked down to the floor, hands nervously twitching.

The silence in my room was deafening. I sat in my chair, now turned towards Eduard and the door, and stared straight at my brother. He, on the other hand, leaned on the door like a scared animal and looked anywhere but where I sat.

Eduard opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He took a deep shaking breath. "I...I can't apologize."

"No." There it was again, the scary voice. "No, you can't."

"And I can't explain."

"No."

"But I can't say nothing either."

"..."

"I...I... This is impossible. Nothing I can say can change what I did." No. I wanted to say. But I couldn't say a word. My throat was thick and if I said one word, I would start crying for sure. "I... I know it's my fault. If I hadn't...If Tim had never found out where you..." Eduard's voice cracked.

"Why?" It was like someone else had taken over my body. It felt like I would start crying any second, but there was no sign of that in my voice. "Why did you tell him? Why did you work for him? Why did you betray us?" _You were my brother._

A tear slipped down Eduard's cheek. "I never wanted to." He whispered. "Believe me, Toris. I didn't want to. Tim forced me to. He...He..." With a shaking hand, Eduard rolled up his left sleeve. My eyes went wide and I almost let out a horrified gasp. He had injures, some older and some fresher, all over his arm. "I know. It looks horrible. But it's no excuse. I should have done something. But I was a coward. And because of that Feliks..."

"Stop. Don't say it."

"I'm sorry." My brother's voice was barely loud enough for me to hear. "I'm so sorry Toris. I never wished for this to happen. I wanted the two of you to stay happy together for all of eternity. I...If I could turn back time I'd..."

"But you can't." I looked down on my feet to not let Eduard see my tears. "You can't. It's too late, Eduard. Nothing can change it."

"Toris..."

"Leave."

"Toris, I..."

"I said LEAVE!"

Eduard stood completely frozen for half a second, then excited my room without another word. The second the wooden door closed behind him, I broke down completely. I sank down from my chair onto the cold floor. I couldn't control the tears that flooded down my cheeks. It hurt so much. Everything hurt. A tidal wave of flashbacks from that night washed over my mind, leaving no part spared from the damage. It was like standing in that tower again, seeing Feliks throw himself in front of Eduard, seeing him fly over the railing to the tower. Seeing his eyes in that final moment.

His last smile.

My chest, no everything, my body and soul, hurt. Because of all those happy moments I had with Feliks that I would never have again and because of his smile that I'd never see. It hurt because I'd never be able to hold his hand again, or kiss his cheek. Because I wouldn't be able to grow old with him and live that dream we discussed on Halloween. I would never see him again. And that pain was too much to bear.

And somewhere, even though I couldn't feel it back then, it hurt because I'd just lost a brother too.

Without any reason, a glass owl I'd gotten for my eleventh birthday fell from my desk. It exploded into a thousand pieces, covering my floor like stardust.

I was that owl, broken and hurt. And there were no one there to pick up the pieces.


End file.
